07 June 2011

The Sun's Gone Dim and the Sky's Turned Black

For about the past week and a half or so things around here have been very creepy.

This time of year in Los Angeles the weather effect called June Gloom is in place. A thick marine layer sits on top of the LA basin until about mid-July or August. The skies remain gray most of the time....but it cannot compare to what is happening here in the southwest.

Fires in Arizona and along the NM border combined with the jet stream right over Albuquerque have turned our skies dark. Smoke and ash have wafted over the city now for almost two weeks with this effect:




This is about 5pm!! From here I can USUALLY see to the other side of the valley and the three volcanoes to the west.



My dad likes to sit outside in late afternoon and wait for the ice cream man to come around. He can't do that now as he is on oxygen 24/7 and all this crap is in the air. Your eyes burn if you are outside too long.

A local weather dude says it reminds him of growing up in Montana when Mt St Helen's erupted.

I'm out.

2 comments:

Corbie said...

We have June Gloom, but we also have fires in SoCal.
They tend to happen near Halloween and contribute to the creepy mood, along with the Santa Ana winds.
I'd still rather live in the West than anywhere else, fires and all.

MICK said...

True that, Corbie. I lived in LA for 20 years before moving to the southwest. I remember Decembers when the Santa Ana winds blew in heat from hell!