This year has been a bad fire year for Idaho. According to NASA, as of Sept. 11, more than 1.5 million acres had burned in Idaho, more than any other state in the United States. I don’t know about you, but for us Idahoans, that is pretty huge. We are blessed and thankful that none of those fires have affected us personally. There are no fires burning so close to us that we have to worry about fleeing our home. We have not lost anything in these fires, except for clean skies. Our air quality has really dropped recently. I’m thankful, because I know it will blow out of here soon enough, but still, it’s no fun being in the middle of it. Just last week we had bright blue, clear skies, that came after about a week of hazy skies. But honestly, how today was, is about the worst I’ve seen it.
Just to show you how bad it is I’ll give you a before and after shot.
I looked through my photos and I found this photo of the mountains behind our house. I took this last year in the summer, but it’s to show you what our normal view is from our back fence.
This is a photo I took tonight around 7:30pm. Where are the mountains?
Some of the fires they have stopped trying to put out. They just don’t have the money or man power. They will let them burn until the cold weather puts them out, another month or so. They will protect people and homes, but when it’s just up in the mountains and in the forests, they will let it burn. That is what is keeping our skies so smokey.
It’s sad we live in such a small state, because what happens to us and in our state rarely makes the news. But this really is a very bad season for us. I don’t want the cold weather to come in any sooner than it needs too. I like the cooler weather, but I’m not ready for winter yet. But I do want the skies to clear soon. Until then, we will continue with our allergy medicine and enjoy the blue skies and clear skies when we get them, which hopefully will be here again soon.
8 thoughts on “Smokey Skies”
I know what it is like to deal with smoke, thankfully fall is just around the corner for you.
We’re seeing your smoke (and Wyoming’s) in our skies, too. Hazy and pink lighting, once in a while a whiff of smoke. I had no idea it had burned so much in your state. It’s so sad to see the forests burned because you know it will be a lifetime before they look like they did again. Glad you’re safe!
Great pictures. What a contrast with those two. Really shows the density of the smoke. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to clear skies soon, but I’m with you, not really ready for winter. A nice fall rain would work. See you soon. Love
I saw the fires on the news and thought of you. Wow, that is wierd how the mtns. disappeared in the photo. I would think that would be hard to breathe. Glad they are staying away from you guys.
Wow, that is a lot of smoke. Praying that the weather turns for the best and blow all that smoke away.
So smokey! Praying for cooler, wetter, clearer weather for you soon.
As for us, Fall is definitely here!
That’s just so sad and breathing the air would probably be terrible. I pray you get an early winter! Well, you know what I mean!
Wow, that is a lot of smoke! I hope that the air soon clears up for you, but I can see why you don’t want to have cold weather yet.
We have a bit of manure smell, but the skunk is gone. All in all, our air is very clean here!
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