Last year California had record breaking fires – that record held for almost 100 yrs. Now we’ve broken last year’s record for the most destructive fire ever. Normally we would have had rains by now and “fire season” would be over – and acres of land and homes – not to mention lives, would not have been lost. We haven’t had any rain since early spring and the land is very dry. ( In October, San Francisco had weeks of temperatures breaking 80 degrees and in November it was in the 70’s – until the fires darkened the skies.)
Plume from the Camp Fire in Butte Co. on Nov 9.
Another larger view from NOAA shows the plume covering an extensive region and shows the Woolsey Fire in southern California as well. (I can’t find a date on this image, but it was 2-3 days later).
https://abc7news.com/time-lapse-how-camp-fire-smoke-plume-choked-northern-california/4694952/
The town of Paradise is Paradise no more, in fact very little is left of it. People have died and many more are homeless in this area… because of global warming. Think about that.
Although we live 180 miles south-southwest of the big Butte Co. fire, we are being advised to stay indoors with windows closed. Public schools are closed from Butte Co to well south of San Francisco; even the Cable cars shut down, as we now have the dirtiest air in the world. The skies vary from hazy to a dirty orangey color and are predicted to continue this week to plague us.
Taken at noon – smoke blocking the sun.
We can hardly see our nearby hills where my husband hikes almost every day. Today they have “disappeared.” (photo taken 2 days ago)
It has been 8 days now since that fire started (there are others). Yesterday it was announced it was only 40% contained; today they say they are making progress.
In the first days, the sun’s rays were sometimes bent to cast an unusual gold-red glow that was ironically pretty. It reminds me of the shadows we saw during an eclipse. Smoke particles filter sunlight, scattering short wavelengths and leaving the longer reddish wavelengths of the light spectrum behind. This allows more orange and red colors to pass through the smoke.
unretouched color
I have a cough and sore eyes, but the bigger picture is… that smoke is coming from people’s lost homes. There are horror stories of people running from the flames into swimming pools and creeks, but you read the news. My heart goes out to the thousands affected.
A Place in the World 
I can imagine what you are going through in a small way having experienced wildfires in Cape Town and man-made pollution from crop burning in Chiang Mai. I have to move away from Chiang Mai for 4 months every year. The hospitals are overloaded with patients suffering from respiratory diseases. Take care.
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Hi Jim- Yes it is still bad for us; so many people wearing masks if they have to go out. Hate to think how the refugees are coping – some camping in parking lots much closer to the fire, which still burning 11 days after it started. We are in hopes of some rain.
Nice to hear from you. How goes the novel?
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The light has been surreal. I heard that the smoke is starting to kill birds (and probably other small animals.) It’s a real tragedy.
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😦
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I forgot to add a positive note. A woman in my area posted on Next Door that she was collecting warm clothing and amenities for the fire victims who have lost everything. She was inundated with more boxes etc than she could sort through and ended up taking a trailer up to Chico with donations. It was heart-warming to see the response in our local community.
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Update: Chico now has an excess of clothing donations. Organizations including the American Red Cross (rdcrss.org/2Q0nPJW) and the Salvation Army( https://deloro.salvationarmy.org/del_oro/camp-fire) say now victims need cash to buy essential personal items and food.
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