SMOKE, SMOKE, and more SMOKE. Yes, that certainly seems to be the case here in Oregon, and in fact the entire west coast of the USA, as well as Canada. The world appears to be burning up right in front of our eyes.
This situation has been going on for months now, and it only seems to have gotten worse as the time passes. With the monster El Nino parked off the West Coast, and the High Pressure Ridge that has been there for an extended period of time helping to exacerbate the drought conditions, it looks like fires and the smoke associated with them, will continue into the Autumn season.
A couple of links that show the fire situation can be found below.
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
http://fires.globalincidentmap.com/home.php
Even though I am still here in Bend, Oregon, for a little while longer, I was scheduled to do a house/pet sit in Grand Forks, BC, which was meant to begin on August 22nd. The location was right next door to the place I housesat at in early 2012, however the owners cancelled their vacation, so my services were not required. This appears to be fortunate for me, but not for them, as I read recently that there has been an evacuation alert issued for that area due to a wildfire burning in Northern Washington State. See below.
http://globalnews.ca/news/2187170/wildfire-threat-prompts-evacuation-alert-near-grand-forks/
And there is still plenty of summer weather to go. Things seem to be going from bad to worse on the fire front.
Here is a short video from the top of a hill in Bend called Pilot Butte, which normally offers a CLEAR 360˚ view of the surrounding area, including mountains to the west of town. As you can see, it was anything but clear when I took this video five days ago, and these smokey conditions have persisted day after day after day. Even the little kid "whining" in the video doesn't like all the smoke.
Perhaps, The Platters said it best all those years ago, even though they weren't singing about forest fires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2di83WAOhU
Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
PS. I will be in transit to my next house sit on September 7th, so I may or may not get an opportunity to write on that day. However if that is the case, I will write my next entry on the following day.
Latest update. I have decided to cancel my September 7th blog entry due to time constraints. I will write again on September 14th.
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