This has been one of the less pleasant summers around here in rural Utah, and it’s only getting worse. Even on cloudless days, which are most of them, the sky is not blue, but a sort of muddy brownish gray with a bluish tint. At night, some stars are visible at the zenith, but they quickly fade to a dark haze as you look lower. And now the mountains are disappearing. The cause? The western US seems to have burst into flames, with the ecological paradise that is California being about the worst culprit along with Idaho and eastern Oregon:
From the wind patterns, it looks like the smoke that has infested this area comes from the SoCal fires.
Worse than the visible effects is the ever-present smell of fire. More than once I’ve jumped out of bed thinking that my house was on fire.
So, who wants to guess: will this winter be warm and dry and pathetic, building on the trend starting last winter, or will it be a nightmarish snowpocalyptic Fimbulwinter with snow drifts that bury apartment buildings?