Hot August day in the Salish Sea, 2017
The tide this day was very high so the beach was just a narrow strip of sand. Lots of shells but mostly immersed in water. It was a very hot day, mid-afternoon, and the air heavy with wildfire smoke. I waded ankle-deep to cool off, admiring the look of shells underwater, with gentle waves riffling the surface, creating graceful flickering refractions. It felt cool and clean, such a contrast to the thick hot hazy air above.
Imagine yourself wading in a shallow cool sea on a hot summer’s day, looking down into the water...
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It’s cooling off verrry gradually in the Pacific Northwest today, but temps are still 10-15° above normal for August. We haven’t had a drop of rain since mid-June — ground is parched, grass is crunchy. The sky is very hazy with wildfire smoke, and worsening, so thick I can barely see neighboring islands across the water. You can taste the residue, it burns your throat and feels oppressive. There’s an eery light out all day. This isn’t the first summer we’ve been blanketed with wildfire smoke, and the reality is that Global Warming has increased wildfires in the West in the past few decades (www.earth.columbia.edu/...). It will get worse...we can expect incidents like this more often.
This is peak tourist season in the islands but the visitors I’m seeing don’t look very cheerful or lighthearted — well, they’d have it worse in the city! At least here you can walk along the beach and feel refreshed by the cool seawater.
Keep cool, Bucketeers!
What’s the news of the day in your natural neighborhood?
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