The smoke has been pretty bad at times for the last month, but for the last week, the air quality index has been hovering between 280 (hazardous) to 320 (harmful). No aerobic exercise since last Friday. The boat is fueled and provisioned in case we have to evacuate, but that threat seems to be diminishing.
The Columbia River downstream from here was actually closed to navigation for a few days - I've never heard of that before. Commercial shipping is being let through one at a time now. Cruise ships and tugboats were stacked up at our marina for a couple of days, but the smoke was too thick to take photos!
Here's a few snaps from last Sunday's sail, before things got really bad. (Since then, visibility has been zero and the sun - when visible - has just been an orange dot.)
Burned fir needles and ash on the deck from a fire 20 miles away:
Skies have been like this for a month:
The cloud of doom descending on us:
Since then, we have been inside that cloud. Coughing, scratchy throats, burning eyes. It's getting really old. The air smells like soggy charcoal. About ready to drive to the airport and take the first flight to... well that's the problem, isn't it?