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The wildfire situation in Oregon and Washington is terrible. I've known this, I've watched it, I've been horrified by it.
But I'm also fairly insulated, in the very damp Willamette Valley, where we rarely get lightning strikes, in a suburban area, and basically, no fires here. Mine is a sadness and horror for the people in the middle of it, but largely unaffected.
Until today. Now we have a freaking east wind and, while I'd rather have the smoke than the fire, we have it. The entire atmosphere outside is semi-permanently set to "downwind of the campfire" - the air quality index cleared 200 sometime around 1 pm (clearing 200 puts it in the "very unhealthy" range, exceeded only by "hazardous" if it clears 300 - at 200+ it's not safe for kids or a number of other categories, at 300+ it's not safe for ANYONE) - and as of 8 pm hasn't been under 200 that I've seen yet. It _did_ recently shift downward from a high of 213 (that I saw), to its current 205.
Or in other words, hi, I'm having a mini-pity-party because this bites. The boys, instead of being run around a local park as they needed, got extra screen time from me - I got Despicable Me from the library and gave them some popcorn and let them watch, and they've been playing video games. (They were out at a water park for a birthday party from 10:30-12:30, before the air got quite so bad...the index was only at 95 or so around 11 am.)
http://www.katu.com/news/local/why-is-it-smoky-in-portland-oregon-beaverton-hillsboro-vancouver.html has the smoke news and a little map showing the fires. In theory, we get to live with this through tomorrow and then the wind may shift and come from the west Monday, if we're lucky.
Bleh. Still, so grateful that we DO in fact have smoke without fire, here. I wish the fires were not destroying so much elsewhere, but I'm grateful that only their annoying byproducts are in our lives.
I'm also grateful for a tightly-closed house with good filters and HVAC. Because it's nasty out there.
But I'm also fairly insulated, in the very damp Willamette Valley, where we rarely get lightning strikes, in a suburban area, and basically, no fires here. Mine is a sadness and horror for the people in the middle of it, but largely unaffected.
Until today. Now we have a freaking east wind and, while I'd rather have the smoke than the fire, we have it. The entire atmosphere outside is semi-permanently set to "downwind of the campfire" - the air quality index cleared 200 sometime around 1 pm (clearing 200 puts it in the "very unhealthy" range, exceeded only by "hazardous" if it clears 300 - at 200+ it's not safe for kids or a number of other categories, at 300+ it's not safe for ANYONE) - and as of 8 pm hasn't been under 200 that I've seen yet. It _did_ recently shift downward from a high of 213 (that I saw), to its current 205.
Or in other words, hi, I'm having a mini-pity-party because this bites. The boys, instead of being run around a local park as they needed, got extra screen time from me - I got Despicable Me from the library and gave them some popcorn and let them watch, and they've been playing video games. (They were out at a water park for a birthday party from 10:30-12:30, before the air got quite so bad...the index was only at 95 or so around 11 am.)
http://www.katu.com/news/local/why-is-it-smoky-in-portland-oregon-beaverton-hillsboro-vancouver.html has the smoke news and a little map showing the fires. In theory, we get to live with this through tomorrow and then the wind may shift and come from the west Monday, if we're lucky.
Bleh. Still, so grateful that we DO in fact have smoke without fire, here. I wish the fires were not destroying so much elsewhere, but I'm grateful that only their annoying byproducts are in our lives.
I'm also grateful for a tightly-closed house with good filters and HVAC. Because it's nasty out there.
