Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

I live and work about a 2 hr drive from the "Camp" Fire, the huge Northern California fire that has featured so prominently in the news recently.  Even at that distance, the air quality in the Sacramento region was far worse than places like Beijing, Mumbai, or Dehli today.  Private schools and universities have been closed, but public schools have stayed open.  Our superintendent sent out a message this afternoon, though, telling us that our schools will be closed tomorrow.

There is so much particulate matter in the air that it looks, at a distance, like fog--but it's in the high 60s here, and there's not a cloud in the sky.  The air is so gross that you can look directly at the sun.

I took this first picture looking towards the sun and the parking lot at school today, shortly after 3 pm:

(click to enlarge to see how hazy it really is)

Again, there's not a cloud in the sky, nor any sort of water vapor.  That's not the setting moon, that's the afternoon sun.  That sky should be bright blue.

Here's the view looking down my street shortly before 4pm:

And here's the back of my car:

Yes, I had it washed fairly recently.  What you're seeing is the smoke that has settled on my car, and then "run" when the morning dew disturbs the even distribution of yuck.

It's probably best to stay indoors, as at least I won't be breathing in all that crap. I won't complain about having another day off--unless the state requires us to make it up in June, as is a possibility (our district has requested an exemption). I guess we'll see.

Update: