Thanks to KVEW-TV for this view of the sun four days ago near Kennewick.

Haze in the foothills of the Blue Mountains looking over Lake Bennington, Walla Walla, WA

 

Today morning came with a dirty yellowish light.  Dark enough that my neighbors and I have our lights on.  Sunrise was at around 7am but you'd hardly know it.  We have a thick smoky haze here coupled with an inversion and little wind here.  The smoke is from fires here in Eastern Washington.  It is bad enough to keep people with health problems inside for the duration and to cancel some outdoor school athletics but it is not at its worst here in Walla Walla.  There are over a 240 fires burning in Washington alone, a huge one is burning near Sisters, Oregon, and many in Idaho.  There's an easterly wind that has sent the creeping smoke over the Cascade Mountains and into Seattle today as well as being funneled up the Columbia River Gorge into Portland, Oregon.  In many places it looks like the smokes of Mordor.  We are lucky though.  We are not the ones who have lost their homes, or are packed up watching the fire come closer and the evacuation call to come.   There are more than 4000 firefighters working in Washington right now.  One hundred from British Columbia have arrived and more are expected from other provinces.  No rain in sight.  Good time for a trip to the ocean if you can do it.  Bless you if you are in the thick of this, here or in other states.