Walk With Me [4] - Escape to the Marine Layer - Part 1 - Sunday Scent Experience: Forest Fire Smoke!
Sure, forest fires can make for pretty sunsets. But when the smoke got so thick I couldn't breathe, I had to make a break for it -- to clean Pacific Ocean air pushing inland from the the Oregon coast.
The summer of 2017 was a tough one for forest fires, smoke, and lousy air quality all over the Pacific Northwest. Many folks had it worse than me, for sure. Whenever I think this winter has been cold, cloudy and wet - and I'm ready for spring -- I remind myself that at least I can breathe easy! The trees and mushrooms like this weather a lot better, too!
My escape to the marine layer of air was the start of many trips, all during the autumn, to parts of Oregon that I hadn't been to. I hope you will join me for the whole series -- especially if you like mushrooms! I'm posting this for SundayScentExperience, hosted by @dutchess, because the scent of forest fires was so overwhelming. It stinks of danger!
So Many Fires and So Much Smoke!
While the forest were burning, I kept track of them with NASA's WorldView tools. And I tracked my local air quality with the US Forest Service's Airfire tool.
Hot, Dry and Dusty!
But then, the fresh air from the Pacific Ocean didn't blow in. The air got stagnant. Every bit of automobile exhaust and dust stirred up by local agriculture just mixed with the smoke. It had been so long since we had rain. So dust and ash covered everything. The plants were not happy. They just hunkered down.
It Gets Worse!
Folks were complaining for weeks. And then it got worse! The Willamette Valley filled with smoke for days. Every day was worse. I watched my local air quality get worse and worse - until it went above the most hazardous levels. I could check the numbers, but I didn't need need those numbers to tell me that things were bad! My lungs were screaming that message!
Wildfire smoke is so much worse than smoke from a campfire or fireplace. Why? Because all that green wood is full of oils -- volatile organic compounds. When green wood burns, there is a lot of incomplete burning, so there's carbon monoxide that combines with nitrogen in the air to make nitrous oxides that are like automobile pollution. And then that combines with the smoke to make smog.
I went to bed that night, hoping things would be better in the morning. I don't have air conditioning, because the weather in Oregon's Willamette Valley usually isn't very hot. Whether my windows were open or closed, the air was bad. At 3 am, I woke up and said, "I have got to go. I am headed toward the coast. I'm driving until I reach some fresh air." And then I was gone!
Thanks for Walking With Me - and Breathing All That Wildfire Smoke!
In Part 2 of my escape to marine layer, you won't be able to see the clean, fresh air I found. But you will see a lot of other great things -- even a mushroom! I hope you will join me!
I hope none of you were threatened by the wildfires in the western U.S. last fall. So many people lost homes - and even their lives - in some of the fires. Wildfire smoke is bad enough! My experience sure helps me appreciate the challenges facing people with respiratory illnesses, too.
Thanks to @lyndsaybowes for the #walkwithme tag! And to everyone using that tag! Enjoy your walks!
What Do You Think?
- Have you been around forest fire smoke?
- Did you breathe any of the forest fire smoke in the 2017 fires in the Western U.S.?
- What would you do if wildfire smoke was bad around you?
- What would you do if wildfires were close by?
From our house in 20 km there is burning peat bogs and it's just an incredibly terrible smell. I can not imagine how people living around them live.
Usually our leaves are burned in the fall and this smell of smoke is already tied to me this season. Especially it was not convenient to have a walk with a small child, because it is harmful.
Wow! I hear that it's almost impossible to put out fire in a peat bog. That would be tough to live around, for sure. I mulch all my leaves in the autumn. I put them on my garden and it really builds up the soil. Burning leaves can be so hard on breathing! I hope all your air quality stays good this spring! : )
It was a smoky one last summer. That was for sure. I will have to remember to buy an air purifier this year. I live right by the ocean and so it was a bit better for me but it was still some thick air.
I think everyone in the whole region was affected by all that smoke last summer. Thank goodness for the clean ocean air pushing inland every now and again - even though it wouldn't rain. "Thick" is a good way to put it, with all that smoke. Here's to a fire-free 2018! Enjoy your ocean! :D
I can only imagine! We get a taste of it here when people around the lake burn leaves in the Fall. I like to walk at night for exercise, but some night the smoke was to thing to really breathe right.
Burning leaf piles can be pretty bad. We're not allowed to do that here, because the air quality would go down so much. So I mulch all my leaves -- and that works great, especially for my garden! At least snow doesn't add to the air pollution! Breathe deep! ; )
Oh! I'm very sorry to know that you faced the wildfire smoke. And it's so sad to see the blackberries and the grape leaves look like that.
The sunset over the river is very wonderful! Great shot!
You were very brave driving a car in the very early morning! I do really hope that everything would be better soooooooon. ;)
Thanks, @tangmo! It was so dry and hot and smoky last summer. I was glad to see the rain and cool weather, for sure. Things got better, thank goodness. And it is still cool and wet and cloudy, so I am happy. : )
You're welcome! Oh! I'm sorry I think this wildfire smoke occurs presently.... Ah! Last summer! I'm glad to hear that things got better and you are happy with the weather now. ;)
I am a lot happier now, with the cool and cloudy weather! And I hope this year, we won't have big fires! The ones last year were unusually bad.
I'm happy to hear that you are a lot happier now.... I do really hope that you won't have big fires this year! ;)
While everyone has the same sensitivity to wildfire smoke. It's still a good idea to avoid breathing in smoke. And when smoke is heavy, such as can occur in close proximity to a wildfire, it's bad for everyone.
Smoke is made up of a complex mixture of gases and fine praticles produced when wood and other organic materials burn. The biggest health threat from smoke is from fine particles. These microscopic particles can penetrate deep into your lungs. They can cause a range of health problems, from burning eyes and a runny nose to aggravated chronic heart and lung diseases.
Exposure to particle pollution is even linked to premature death.
Thanks for pointing out the problems with particulates from the wildfire smoke, @anayakhan. It really is a big problem. People that already have breathing problems suffer a lot. We got lots of notices in the news and from the Weather Service to not do a lot of physical activity while the smoke was around.
Wow! Thanks God we don't have much fires here! I'm sorry you had that experience.
Well Lyz you have had your handsful with the storms!!!
Yeah! But I can't get out of my house in the middle of a hurricane to escape like Chris did 😅
Omg no you have got to stay in a safe place then!
I think you had it so much worse in 2017 than I did! But the people that did get burned out in California, it was terrible, too. The forces of nature can be so huge! Let's hope that 2018 is a calm year for everyone!
I know other folks had it much worse. I was so glad to see the rain in September. And it's still raining. And I'm still glad about it, lol. That's good that Puerto Rico doesn't have to deal with wild fires, too!
We have fires in summer time but not that big. I hope this year you don't have to go through the same experience
I'll go for that!
Wow, what a flash back! A summer to remember that's for sure, and it's not very good memories, oooooh ye poor forager...how ye must have suffered!
The sun looked great, but the reason is not!! Beautiful captures. Here's to a better season this year!
Thanks, @lyndsaybowes! I'm making a series to go from that dry, smoke-filled summer through the fall and into winter. I didn't want to face those smoky photos before now. It was no fun at all. And I had it so much easier than many folks. But the rest of the series will be better -- with lots of mushrooms, lol. That's fun!
What a great post. And to blog about a scent you don't like is so educational, i love it. Did you know that our ability to smell is much much much older thanour ability to talk?
Scent does not go to the cortex for a 100%- a small part of it goes uncensored to the limbic system, to the amydala as a fact, the older part of the brain. Here lies our ability to connect on basis of memories. Scent activates memories and can alarm us in danger. Smoke is one of this alarming scents that can get you out of deepsleep. Also out of REMsleep, when your muscles are kind of paralised. We needed this in the beginning of our existence to survive. This is why scent has such a deep inpact on the way we feel and behave. Wonderful post! Thank you for joining my Tsu friend!
So interesting, @dutchess! I definitely had a visceral reaction to that smoke at 3 am. It woke me up and got me out of there. It was an amygdala reaction! =8O
It sure was!
Thanks for letting us WALK WITH YOU!! yes, indeed... With those gif's and beautiful photographs.. I really can imagine that I am with you... The descriptive words... The effects of the smoke on plants... Man, this is reality... Thank you for this post... I think I was able to go out and take a look of the world's real situation...
By the way, did you know I stared at that sunset photo for a few seconds... Haha.. because I was waiting for the sun to go down! Hahaha... I thought it is a gif too..
Love all your posts... 💓 Just followed you... 😉
Thanks, @maylyn09, for walking with me, all through that smoke! A sunset would make a nice gif, for sure.
I know how bad is wildfire smoke. I guess many portuguese people can exactly identify a wildfire smoke from others, we are used to. When smoke is on the air everything looks kind of dead, like its life was taken.
Yes, Portugal has had such bad wildfires recently. You describe perfectly what it looks and feels like. It helps us enjoy the rain!
Every summer season it's the same. I remember of wildfires since I was a kid, every year!! Some years are better than others. This year (last year, 2017) our wildfires were terrible and now I almost hear everyone happy with the rain, we won't forget the lives that were taken that easily.
The loss of lives in 2017 was really incredible. In the western US, this was one of the few times that the wildland fires moved into towns -- cities, really. A hospital, a big hotel, a shopping center, and whole suburban neighborhoods burned. The fire fighters were not prepared for that kind of event. And burning ashes were sweeping miles and miles away to start new fires. I am hoping that 2018 is a quiet year, for everyone! More rain!