Smoke in D.C.'s skies traveled thousands of miles from the West Coast. [View all]
'Glancing skyward into a milky-orange haze, you may be noticing a dimmed sun in our skies. That haze is from the massive Western wildfires. It’s just a very small taste of what California, Oregon and Washington state have been dealing with.
Carried along by the jet stream, the swift river of winds about 20,000 to 30,000 feet aloft, the thick smoke arrived Monday on the East Coast, including the D.C. area. It will stick around through at least Thursday. While it promises more surreal skies, effects are on the ground are expected to be minimal.
The smoke is fortunately suspended too far aloft (at greater than 20,000 feet) to meaningfully affect the quality of the air we’re breathing near the ground. The U.S. government’s AirNow forecast calls for good air quality (code green) through Thursday.
The same cannot be said for the Pacific Northwest and West Coast, where air quality has been among the worst anywhere in the world for several days.
But by blotting out the sun, the smoke is interfering with what would have been a picture-perfect stretch of September days. If not for the fires, the D.C. area would be in the middle of a short preview of the best autumn has to offer: sparkling blue skies, pleasant temperatures and low humidity.
Instead, we have a rusty-gray smoke layer streaking over our skies.'>>>
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/09/15/wildfire-smoke-dc-maryland-virginia/?
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