A Red Sun Rises

The Alaskan heatwave continues. With it comes wild fires.

Actually, the Alaskan interior often burns in the summer. To me, its weather reminds me more of central and eastern Washington state, warm and dry. Lightning strikes, unattended camp fires, even sunshine refracted through a piece of broken glass can spark wild fires that burn thousands of acres without endangering a single dwelling. Some summers, we’re almost as bad here (see Too Close for Comfort!).

Is this news to you? That’s because we’re Alaska. If we were California, or some other place regarded as important by the U.S. east coast, you’d hear about it constantly.

smoke haze on Lynn Canal

You’ve seen this view many times before, on better days . . . (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

Without benefit of news reports, we know about it. Most clear days during the summer include at least a hint of smoke haze. Alaska’s interior, and western Canada send plenty of smoke our way.

This year, however, it’s gotten especially bad. On the Fourth of July, Michelle and I sailed from Haines to Mud Bay on Dave and Anke’s boat, Wayward. Often we couldn’t see the mountains in the north, toward Skagway.

In the evening, with these unusually warm temperatures, I felt like thunderstorms were imminent. We felt odd looking straight up to the thinly veiled blue sky, where what few clouds we saw clearly weren’t thunderheads.

smoke haze on Lynn Canal

Another “non-view” thanks to severe smoke haze (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

In the following days, the mountains across Lynn Canal disappeared! It got so bad that we can actually smell the smoke here on the homestead. Usually, the air smells kind of “ozoney,” like Los Angeles basin smog can smell (at best). Sunday, I paused before climbing in the shower, worried that the peninsula itself might be on fire. I took the July Monthly Movie earlier than usual to show the extent of the haze (see Monthly Movie for July).

I pity our visitors, who can hardly see our scenery! I spoke with a young French woman the other day who’s visiting the state in a converted camper van. She’d looked forward to hiking here, but wondered if it would be worth it, with the obscured views.

What we need is some good cleansing rains. Until then, I see no reason to expect relief from these conditions. I may have to start wearing a filter mask for heavier jobs, like firewood cutting (there’s an irony, no?) (See N95 Dust Masks: Don’t Leave Home Without Them?).

You can see a (fairly) current map of wild fires in Alaska here.

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