Still lots of fires around California, along with a high pressure area sitting over the state. The result is winds from the north driving all that smoke into the valley. Air quality is pretty bad; the morning sun is really orange from all the smoke. And temps in the 100’s don’t make things any better.<\/p>\n
Over 1700 fires in the state, but down to 330 active fires. Here’s a good map of most of the fires in the state: http:\/\/www.oes.ca.gov\/WebPage\/oeswebsite.nsf\/InteractiveMap?readForm<\/a> . Another map here http:\/\/www.fire.ca.gov\/downloads\/incidents\/StatewideFireMap_070708_PM.pdf<\/a> .<\/p>\n So it’s inside for me. Although I don’t have any allergies, I have noticed a bit of throat irritation from the smoke.<\/p>\n We drove back from Utah on Sunday. There is still a lot of smoke in the mountains, up to the 6000 foot level. You can’t see across Donner Lake from the freeway, normally a really pretty view of the lake and surrounding mountains<\/span>. Visibility at the 4000 foot level was about 5 miles. At the Sacramento valley floor level, Sunday visibility in the evening was about 10 miles.<\/p>\n And it doesn’t appear there will be any relief soon. Temps are projected at 100-108 degrees (F) through the weekend. Because of the smoke layer, the overnight temps aren’t getting below about 75. We normally open the windows at night to get a bit of breeze and to save on AC costs. Not this week. We set the thermostat at 83 degrees at night, and keep the bedroom ceiling fan going.<\/p>\n This next month’s electric bill will be quite impressive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Still lots of fires around California, along with a high pressure area sitting over the state. The result is winds from the north driving all that smoke into the valley. Air quality is pretty bad; the morning sun is really orange from all the smoke. And temps in the 100’s don’t make things any better.<\/p>\n Over 1700 fires in the state, but down to 330 active fires. Here’s a good map of most of the fires in the state: http:\/\/www.oes.ca.gov\/WebPage\/oeswebsite.nsf\/InteractiveMap?readForm<\/a> .<\/p>\n