Dan Driscoll’s “Sunset Over Oysterville 8/21/2018”

“On the bright side, the smoke kept the temperatures down in the state today.”  That’s what an article in yesterday’s Seattle PI said.  Really???  It was 90° on our porch yesterday.  I’ve seldom seen it hotter than that in Oysterville – not in all my eight-plus decades.  But then, I don’t know that the PI or anyone else in the so-called ‘Emerald City’ considers our corner of Washington part of the state – at least not the Peninsula.

Their interactive air quality map does show South Bend, however, and listed the air quality level there at “198 (unhealthy)” at four o’clock this morning.  That compared to “241 (very unhealthy)” in Tacoma at the same hour.  Yesterday, Seattle’s AQI topped the list for worst air quality in the world at 180 followed by Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (178) and then Portland (172).

The report went on to say, “Of course, that’s nothing compared to Eastern Washington where the highest AQI in Chelan read 411, well into hazardous territory, and (thanks to local wildfires) showing no signs of slowing down.”  Say what?  That’s a statement I don’t quite understand, coming as it did right after the sentence about Seattle’s 180 AQI topping the world list.  Maybe some of those stats were for one day and some for another.  Or maybe the term ‘new normal’ goes beyond climate change these days and includes drawing illogical conclusions as well.  Not fake news exactly.  More like sloppy reporting.

Another Smoky, Windless Day in Oysterville – 8/22/2018

Whatever the actual facts may be, we found it more comfortable to stay indoors yesterday.  We heard that, under the current outside conditions, people were breathing in the equivalent of smoke from five cigarettes a day.  Really?  As an ex-smoker I couldn’t help the mental addition of “without any of the satisfaction” to that statement.

This morning’s National Weather Service alert says that smoke from ongoing fires in northern Washington and British Columbia will continue to move across the area today and the air quality alert will remain in effect until noon tomorrow.

Oh.  And did I say that the AQI in Beijing right now is 75?