Dust and Smoke

[Dave]

Friday I was driving home from visiting my daughter in Montana. I stopped for gas in Spokane and the smoke had the visibility down to less than a mile. The wind really picked up and was the first I noticed the wind. As I went west the wind got stronger and visibility got less. I was planning on turning down 395 toward Pasco but the road was closed. Several fires and also accidents cause by poor visibility. I continued west on I-90 and started figuring an alternate route. I found a information station on the radio. I learned that there were fires all around me and that the 45 mph winds were causing a dust storm. Smoke and dust, a delightful combination. As I was driving they announced that I-90 was closed west of George. There had been a big fire there about a month ago. The ash and dust blowing from that area reduced visibility to zero. I just stopped at Moses Lake and got a room. 800 mile was enough for one day and one had to be insane to be driving in those conditions.
The next morning the wind had died down but there was still (and still is) huge fires going on so there was still smoke. But not a bad on Saturday morning. There are so many fires going on right now that there are some pretty big ones that they aren't even attempting to fight. Others have pretty minimal response because the resources are stretched so thin.

 

[TexasBred]

Thought about you this morning when they were showing all the fires. Hope all is well.

 

[Dave]

Thought about you this morning when they were showing all the fires. Hope all is well.

Once I got home I am fine. No fires near me. But central and eastern Washington are sure on fire. So is eastern Oregon. Those strong winds on Friday sure didn't help the firefighters. The fire at Lake Chelan jumped the Columbia River! The river is close to a mile wide at that point. There is no way to build a fire break that big.

 

[Bestoutwest]

Friday night the wind was blowing so hard and it was so smokey that it looked like a fog rolled in. The Soda Fire is less than 50 miles, as the crow flies, south of us. We could actually see the fire line from our place a couple nights ago. Last I heard it was over 200,000 acres. Also on Friday, they closed the interstate west of us in Oregon b/c there was another fire. The poor fire crews are getting hammered right now.