
Wildfire smoke spreads across the bay - FiveSquared
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/11/east-bay-schools-libraries-close-as-wildfire-smoke-spreads-across-the-bay-area/
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Oompa
You can see the smoke being blown south pretty clearly here
[http://col.st/DGu7J](http://col.st/DGu7J)

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Scaevolus
Here's a satellite image composite of it:
[https://i.imgur.com/DrHZbg6.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/DrHZbg6.jpg)

Nasa Worldview has layers with daily updates collected from a bunch of
different weather satellites:
[https://go.nasa.gov/2ycBN2H](https://go.nasa.gov/2ycBN2H)

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jlev
really good visualization of this from the forest service airfire tool
[https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v1/run/standard/CANSAC-2km/...](https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v1/run/standard/CANSAC-2km/2017101000/)

via stamen design
[https://twitter.com/stamen/status/918210924615426049](https://twitter.com/stamen/status/918210924615426049)

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greglindahl
Your link is from 2 days ago, here's one from today
[https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v1/run/standard/CANSAC-2km/...](https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v1/run/standard/CANSAC-2km/2017101200/)

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kumarski
The smoke reminded me of back home in India.

We burn lignite ash coal, it's 50% low quality coal.

About 0.5M Indians die yearly from air particulates.
[http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/pollution-particulate-
matte...](http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/pollution-particulate-matter-in-
india-higher-than-who-limit/article7177412.ece)

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justboxing
Yeah. I remember that. To make matters worse, people continue to burn trash in
Delhi despite fines, which just makes the already bad air quaility even worse.

Source: Garbage burning undermines AAP govt’s focus on reducing air pollution
[http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/garbage-burning-
und...](http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/garbage-burning-undermines-
aap-govt-s-focus-on-reducing-air-pollution/story-UzamqjCzfR2lTmL0dDFQTM.html)

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krzyk
Do you get such low temperatures in India that coal burning is an issue? How
many months do you need heating?

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usefulcat
Coal-fired power plants?

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kumarski
Correct.

We're opening one every month til the USA gives us unfettered
uranium/plutonium access rights. We were kept like this for 50 years.....

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Animats
The Santa Rosa area is being hit hard. See the Cal Fire map.[1] Two of the
fires in Sonoma have connected since last night, and it looks like the Patrick
Fire and the Norrborn Fire will connect soon. Many towns are already gone.
Santa Rosa looks like it will make it.

I have friends in Lake County. They're helping evacuate horses from areas that
are worse off.

[1]
[http://www.fire.ca.gov/general/firemaps](http://www.fire.ca.gov/general/firemaps)

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gopalv
SFPL has said that they have air filters in some of their locations & the
mayor tweeted that people can go sit around in the library if they have
trouble breathing.

[https://twitter.com/mayoredlee/status/918477373657325568](https://twitter.com/mayoredlee/status/918477373657325568)

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jimmywanger
Yeah. This is time for me to get on my high horse about controlled burns and
fire being part of the ecosystem.

We've gotten so good at fighting fires that there is so much underbrush built
up that one spark causes huge catastrophes like this, rather than a whole rash
of little fires.

The bay area is so built-up that a lot of people really are building where
they shouldn't be building, or don't do proper fire safety measures, such as
cut back trees for 50 feet around their house and clear out underbrush. So
even the "natural" little fires cause great property damage and need to be
fought, giving these huge blazes enough fuel to really spread beyond any hope
of containment.

At this point I think they're just trying to divert the fire, save lives, and
hope it burns out soon.

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nicolashahn
I live in SF (Bernal Heights) and had to brush ashes off my motorcycle before
I left for work today. For the last few days, every time I went outside it
smelled like a campfire. Some coworkers just dropped off supplies in Petaluma
this morning.

Really glad I'm on this side of the water.

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gdubs
Los Altos here. A bit better tonight than last night, when it smelled like a
campfire and the sky was a thick orange. My main concern is our young ones.

Also, the houses here weren’t really built for this (or the dangerous heat
waves we endured this summer). Poorly insulated, designed for very moderate
Northern California weather.

And we’re just the periphery - the side effect of the tragedy unfolding just
an hour north of here.

Stay safe - keep an eye on the air quality reports and take them seriously.

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sizzzzlerz
Live and work in the south bay and yesterday was really bad. This morning I
could still smell the smoke but the skies seemed a bit clearer. Yesterday,
though, the conditions reminded me of pictures from China where the pollution
is so dense, your field of view appears to be around 10 meters or less. I
could barely make out the mountains east of my home.

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pmoriarty
Don't underestimate how bad smoke is for your health. If you are in an
affected area, try to work from home, stay indoors, and order in.

These days you can even get groceries delivered and laundry picked up, so take
advantage of that and save your health!

You can also buy portable air purifiers online and have those delivered as
well.

~~~
oh_sigh
If you are a not-too-young, not-too-old, otherwise healthy not-pregnant
person, this kind of smoke will be an annoyance with acute effects, but isn't
going to do any long term damage to you.

~~~
l4yao
That's basically what the guest on KQED Forum said this morning. A week's
exposure isn't going to have significant long term damage for healthy
individuals.

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ProfessorLayton
The air quality in the East Bay is so poor that my home smelled like I left
the windows open during a BBQ this morning.

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aidenn0
How is the temperature? I live in SoCal, and usually the bad wildfires happen
at the same time as the Santa Anas, so it's either close your windows and
overheat, or open your windows and damage your lungs.

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gnicholas
It's heating up this weekend, but will only be in mid-80s (at least near Palo
Alto — perhaps 90s in the East Bay). So far, it's not too much of a dilemma:
windows closed, AC off.

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MiguelVieira
The NOAA HRRR smoke model is the best visualization I've found:

[https://hwp-viz.gsd.esrl.noaa.gov/smoke/index.html](https://hwp-
viz.gsd.esrl.noaa.gov/smoke/index.html)

Enable Near Surface Smoke. And the Z-time at the bottom is 7 hours ahead of
Pacific Daylight Time.

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terrabytes
Even the SF city has been unbelievably smoky the last couple of days.

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bobsil1
280 was unbelievably smoky yesterday. Hills next to road hard to see.

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mesozoic
Cosplay as China day.

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Animats
Friend at a bank in downtown San Jose just posted a view of the sky there.[1]

[1]
[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155626120452976&se...](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155626120452976&set=a.261493662975.141096.763317975&type=3&theater)

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nostrademons
Photo isn't viewable. Likely private.

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Animats
Oops, not public.

Downtown SJ bank buildings under a reddish-brown sky. Taken at noon today.

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Dirlewanger
Boohoo, poor Silicon Valley! I can't sit outside comfortably drinking my kale
smoothie today!

