Will summer in the Far West be smoky forever??
Before the bark beetle hit the West so powerfully, we would go on one or two boondocking trips per summer, mostly in the highest parts of the Sierra, mostly to escape the heat. This was in the 2005 to 2010 timeframe.
But the during the last several years, we have either had to cancel because of the smoke, or else we have had to pack up and leave early because of the smoke. It's not that we are super-sensitive to air pollution -- we both grew up in LA, for heaven's sake.
Each year, we keep hoping that this year's smoke festival is an aberration. Or at the very least, that the fires will run out of fuel. But we are not seeing any meaningful reduction in the problem.
The same thing -- chased out by the smoke -- has happened to us in Idaho, and in Wyoming, and Montana, and central Washington, and Oregon.
Is there any hope? Or should we just give up on summertime air quality??
Note that I am emphatically not linking this situation to global warming. The huge swathes of trees killed by invasive bark beetles are what they are. Reasonable minds can differ as to why the beetles arrived, why they have survived the winters, why the trees are so vulnerable to beetles during drought, etc. None of that matters much -- the fires are real.
My focus is much narrower -- is this going to end, or is smoke the new normal?
But the during the last several years, we have either had to cancel because of the smoke, or else we have had to pack up and leave early because of the smoke. It's not that we are super-sensitive to air pollution -- we both grew up in LA, for heaven's sake.
Each year, we keep hoping that this year's smoke festival is an aberration. Or at the very least, that the fires will run out of fuel. But we are not seeing any meaningful reduction in the problem.
The same thing -- chased out by the smoke -- has happened to us in Idaho, and in Wyoming, and Montana, and central Washington, and Oregon.
Is there any hope? Or should we just give up on summertime air quality??
Note that I am emphatically not linking this situation to global warming. The huge swathes of trees killed by invasive bark beetles are what they are. Reasonable minds can differ as to why the beetles arrived, why they have survived the winters, why the trees are so vulnerable to beetles during drought, etc. None of that matters much -- the fires are real.
My focus is much narrower -- is this going to end, or is smoke the new normal?
