Smokey Skies

Today was a very unusual day here in Buffalo and round the East Coast because of the wildfire smoke plume coming down from Canada. We had been seeing some spectacular sunsets over the past week due to the haze in the sky coming from wildfires across the plains of Canada but it wasn't until the fires broke out all over Ontario and Quebec. Yesterday we were smelling smoke all day around the neighborhood. It seemed like someone was having an all day cookout down the street but this was very different. Then today it got much worse. Very bad. The sun was bright red at sunset because of the smoke and haze.

There was a haze everywhere today and that cooking smell became an irritating  stench. As the day went on we saw news stories coming from all up and down the East Coast about how bad the air pollution caused by the fires was affecting the potential health of Americans. New York City and Philadelphia were especially hit bad. Then Washington DC and down into the Carolinas. Everywhere was bad.

We saw people walking their dogs today wearing masks. The person delivering our mail today was wearing a mask. Becky wore a mask going to the studio and to the store. It was weird to take off her mask when she went into the store which was the opposite of what was done over the past few covid years. New York City was especially bad and there were hazardous air quality warnings.

This evening was the first Parkside Wine on Wednesday and the hosts were two of our neighbors behind our backyard. We didn't go. It might have been cancelled or it should have been postponed. I don't think very many people if any at all ventured out in the smoke haze to socialize and drink wine. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be bad again and perhaps for many days more. It somehow seems like the opening to a post apocalyptic movie or novel. We've seen it before where climate change wildfires block out the sun and create havoc around the world. Of course this is just the beginning of fire season. What is to come?