Smoky Skies for the 4th of July!
Happy Independence Day to all my friends here in the USA!
Remarkably, we're actually having the hottest day of the year here; the temperature is running into the mid-80s (that's about 28° for you metric folks) in some of our local area which might not sound like much to many of you but for this part of the world it is extremely warm!
Because it is also a rarity to have days above 80 degrees, pretty much nobody has air conditioning, so the house gets pretty hot because it was designed to keep heat in, rather than circulate it out. Fans in the windows and open doors help a little...
We live in an area with microclimates and whereas it is nearing 90 just a few miles away up on the plateau, down where we are — very near the beach — the temperature is actually just 74-75 right now (thanks to an onshore breeze) although it feels warmer.
Sometime I shake my head at the memory of having lived in Texas for over 20 years where there was rarely a summer afternoon when the temps didn't go over 100!
Even though this is generally known as the "Rainy Pacific Northwest: it has actually been bone dry for quite a few weeks now, and we have a total burn ban going on — you're not even allowed to set off fireworks out across the water — for fear that you might set the nearby woods on fire.
I'm okay with that, to be honest, I'd rather have our forests than the opportunity to send a bunch of money up in smoke! I've seen the devastation caused by fires that resulted from someone being careless with a campfire!
Although it is a clear day and sunny, there is now a lot of haze and the sky is actually more of a whitish pale brown as opposed to our usual clear blue because the smoke from all the fires in Canada to the north of us are starting to drift into our area.
Our local air quality index says we're still at a 46 (anything below 50 is considered "good") but we're expecting a deterioration in air quality over the next 48 hours. Again, we're grateful to be very close to the water where the air generally is just a little bit cleaner than further inland.
Mrs. Denmarkguy and I are having a quiet 4th of July at home with nothing exciting going on. We did a bit of gardening this morning before it got too hot, but otherwise we have no plans to be doing anything social although we do have a busy week ahead. Part of the joy of self-employment is that we don't find ourselves constrained by a fixed schedule and I am eternally grateful for that!
Thanks for stopping by, and here's hoping your Independence Day is going well... if that's something you celebrate!
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Created at 2023-07-04 16:51 PDT
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Now that is thick smoke sky. I am in Toronto Canada and we choked up here a bit. I actually thought I was coming down with a cold. It was just nose and throat irritation. We had bad hazy skies and I am hearing its not even close to stopping. Good luck my friend, stay safe.
Most of the smoke from Canada has missed us so far this summer, but we certainly have had our share in past years. And it may show up here yet! I spent the 4th babysitting my granddaughter, and in the evening I spent some time with my other daughter and her family. Her husband adores setting off fireworks, so I saw a few, but left early to go home and see how the dog was holding up. (He was fine.)