Hazy Dayz

Lately the skies have been grey, and very washed out, with a thick Haze that seems to surround us entirely. As far as I know, there aren't any forest or wild fires immediately close to us. There are fires still burning in BC, and I've also heard that there are fires on the other side of the world that have caused enough smoke to blow over into northern Canada... A lot of my friends are scattered along western Canada, and they all say the same thing - that it's hazy, everywhere. When the sun goes down for the day, and recedes into the horizon, it glows bright red, like its on fire! ...you know what I mean...

It's very eerie to see the hills in the distance look as if they are sitting in a layer of fog, and although its not nearly as bad as what Russia is experiencing... it still makes you wonder about the air quality! There is actually an air quality warning in some parts of BC right now, but nothing has been mentioned in Alberta. (This is the Alberta Air Quality webpage)

Last night we had a really intense thunderstorm - I think lightening struck my front lawn! - and I thought maybe the rain would "wash away" the haziness... No such luck I guess. The sun still set into a deep red glow, and the hills in the distance still looked like they were swimming in fog. But its not just the hills, you can actually see the haze in the sky. You can't really even see the blue sky, its like there is a pinkish overcast all the time - yet it still gets super hot!

I'll see if I can't take some photos later today and post them for you all to see!

**UPDATE** August 19 2010

Today is the worst! You can literally smell smoke in the air - it smells like camping, and its starting to bother my throat! YUCK! According to the news, there are an estimated 300 forest fires burning in BC right now, and the smoke is drifting our way... There is SO MUCH SMOKE!

Check out these photos I just snapped:

From my backyard, you can see the red tinge in the smoke, its so gross!

Looking South, to downtown Tomahawk.

The sun, behind a thick layer of smoke. Today would have been a beautiful, hot sunny day if it weren't for all the smoke!