Another smoky day here at the airport, and Anchorage. We've got the fires up in my neck of the woods, and south, too, but Anchorage is blanketed in wood smoke. It's bad enough today that anyone with asthma or respiratory problems is affected. What worries me right now is moose hunting season starts this weekend. Hunters are being warned not to hunt in the areas affected by the fires. That means a lot of townies will be trying their luck further up the mountain...where I live. Of course, too many people poo-poo the burn bans because they're only going to have a small campfire and they can control a small fire. It only takes a small spark to light the world on fire here right now. It's so dry and maybe as much as 2/3 of the spruce in our area are beetle-killed, making them 70' matches. One spark and they flame-on, and spruce burns hot. Additionally, the tundra and muskeg has dried out. That means the fire can go underground and pop up some other place. I just hope a lot of people decide not to hunt this year.
Wow... doesn't sound good around Anchorage. Is the entire state in that condition?
Year before last when I went out to Montana to visit family, the smoke was so bad you could barely see the mountains. I woke up one day and there was ASHES on my truck. I had to leave early and go back home. Didn't really get out of the smoke until Minnesota. Good ole Wisconsin was clear as a bell. I was very thankful for that. Forest fire smoke is very rare in Wisconsin. It's become a yearly ordeal in Montana.
It's been pretty smoky all summer. The Swan Lake fire on the Kenai Peninsula has been burning for over two months now. Because it's burning into wilderness they let it burn. Only when it threatens human habitation do they fight the fire. There are so many fires statewide that it is pretty miserable. While we are having the hottest, driest summer most people can recall around these parts, there are floods up north. I've noticed that the birch trees are already dropping leaves, not because it's fall but because they are so dry.
Albuquerque has been smoky all day and especially after the sun went down and the air began to settle--they say it is coming from fires in western New Mexico and Arizona. At one point our swamp cooler had pulled so much smoke into the house I went out to see if we were on fire, but we aren't as nearly as I can tell.
But we should all do our rain dances for New Mexico and Alaska. Hombre and I went to Alaska in August and it rained the entire time we were there, in Anchorage and all the ports of call when we cruised out. You would probably welcome some of that now.
There was once a severe drought in Iowa though and on a lark, they invited our Zuni rain dancers to come visit. Six inches of rain and still falling later, they suggested maybe the dancers should go home.
