We get sunrise in San Francisco around a quarter to seven these days. Which is about when the cats get me up (I’m the one they expect to feed them). This morning the cats were late, and when I looked out the window I could see why — it was pitch black outside.
For the last couple of days we’ve been able to look at the sun through breakfast without even blinking, because the smoke layer was thick enough. This morning, and even now (11:15), we can’t even find it.
What’s happening is that smoke from several fires is accumulating high over San Francisco — so at least our air quality is OK. But underneath that is a layer of heavy fog, which came in last evening around 6 and is only now starting to break up.
Downtown SF at 11;10 AM
Cars are still driving with their headlights on. I’ve lived in the City for 25 years (Jean for almost 50) and we’ve never seen anything like this. Nor has anyone we know.
It’s the top story in the SF Chronicle — Thick wildfire smoke blocks sun, turns Bay Area sky orange — which also reports ash is falling:
In some spots the sooty air reached the ground, and National Weather Service forecaster Roger Gass said a weather spotter reported falling ash at Buchanan Field Airport in Concord.
"They reported a significant amount of ash," said Gass. "Almost to the point where it looked like moderate to heavy snow."
