Wildfires happen every summer in BC but this year we have a particularly bad season. The wet and cool spring and early summer did surprisingly more harm than good since it encouraged the growth of grass and underbrush. After a stretch of hot and dry weather in early July the stage was set for big wildfires. At one time over 40,000 people had to be evacuated from towns as big as Williams Lake (10,000 inhabitants) in the Cariboo region of BC.
Wind directions changed to a northeasterly outflow and now Vancouver and the Fraser Valley are blanketed with the dense smoke of these fires. This makes for spectacular sunsets and prevented the temperatures to reach predicted record numbers. The North Shore mountains are obscured by the smoke and the setting sun has an eerily red color. But I'm certainly hoping for a change in wind directions to blow all this smoke away again!
 |
| Sunset at Lighthouse Park, looking across Howe Sound to Bowen Island |
 |
| Sunset from the roof of our house (with a sunspot visible at 10 o'clock) |
 |
| Satellite image of the smoke blowing out the Fraser Valley |
