30 miles (48km) south of Salt Lake City a 4,000+ acre fire is burning, along the mountains that separate the Salt Lake Valley from Utah Valley. With the winds coming from the south, the majority of the smoke is blowing right into our valley.
Salt Lake smells like one big campfire. Now I like the smell of campfires, but only when I can move my chair around and get out of the smoke.
But one thing a smoke filled valley is good for is sunset pictures. The smoke draws the oranges and reds of the sunset throughout the whole valley. Here are some pictures from tonight’s sunset.
And a few other shots from tonight:
An airplane, seen through the smoke cloud.
Requisite moon shot.
The same airplane, out from behind the smoke, reflecting the sun.
Traffic on the I-215/I-80 interchange.
Here you can see the smoke cloud above the city.
11 comments:
This is when I hate only having a swamp cooler. In this much heat, it won't cool things down enough. And when we're dealing with this much smoke, all it does is suck the smoke into the house and move it around.
I've had to shut down the cooler and close all the windows, so it's sweltering.
Oh, and did I mention the neighbors have left town, leaving their back door open so their worried dogs (3 of them) can bark themselves silly all night? Fun, fun, fun.
Glad you at least got some good pics. I haven't got one good thing to say about tonight.
Yuck.
That sucks big time. Is it at least a little more comfortable in the basement?
Again you have taken me on a delightful journey with your photos...it's easy for me to see and smell only the best of things from the comfort of my chair inside a nicely air-conditioned (actually too cool) house...funny thing is, I love hot and sticky weather! The moisture is so good!
Well, it is hot here, but not very sticky. Our relative humidity yesterday hovered right around 6%, the highest I saw state wide was 13%. So, we have the heat, just not the humidity.
Karen,
"Sticky" goes with "heat" in Utah only if you've been outside working and you're sweaty. Better adjectives are things like: crunchy, parched, baking, and tinder-box.
It breaks my heart to see so much visually choking smoke in the sky. I know it's a natural part of earth's existence for fires to burn and for the land to cycle itself through phases of burn-and-grow. But still...
I really like how you've found the silver - or golden-light - lining. I knew you would!
Wow. The pictures are excellent, but I commiserate with you about the smoky smell, and with Lisa about the hear - and the dogs barking. Nothing worse!
Hope the fire is brought under control soon...
Wow impressive most impressive- both the smoke and the photography
Johnina
Thanks everyone. Earlier today the wind was strong enough to clear out the valley - had a couple hours of bright blue skies. Then the wind died down and the valley filled up with smoke again, though not as bad as yesterday. The good news is that the firefighters kept it from reaching any of the houses (although it came within 50 yards (about 50 meters) of one group of homes. They have it under control enough that the over 9,000 residents that were evacuated and spent the night at the local high school have been allowed to return to their homes.
Max- I sure miss seeing your Saturday Centus posts!
Yeah, sorry. I just can't seem to come up with anything good to go with them. I keep trying, though.
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