Huh. The Elitist East Coast Big City Liberal Smartypants Media has finally discovered what us hardy Westerners have knowed for years — huffing a giant forest fire’s secondhand smoke sucks.
We’ve experienced a few lulus over the years in Bibleburg, Weirdcliffe, and The Duck! City. And yeah, they got a little ink despite being largely confined to Flyover Country.
But holy hell. When the Big Apple looks like the Devil’s been feeding his firebox a passel of green wood with a weak draft you gon’ git yoreself some wall-to-wall coverage, son! That’s Scripture!
And even a dyed-in-the-Carhartt mountain man and desert rat like Your Humble Narrator has to admit that a few hundred Canadian wildfires blowing smoke from Maine to Spokane might just be worth a few “Live” headers over to The New York Times.
My old hometown of Ottawa has been taking a hit (and not the kind made famous by Cheech and Chong).
And I expect our Great White North correspondent Ol’ Herb might have a few thoughts on the matter, if he can stop coughing long enough to file a report expanding on the Detroit News coverage. Anyone else out there wearing their N95s again?
Mad Blog Media 
They have short memories Back East. Although some like to blame the “climate crisis” for every calamity (and undoubtedly the current drying out ain’t helping), I’ve read that these big fires have been going on for as long as there have been trees. For example.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/251/13986
Ray Ring knows his shit. He was a scribe at The Arizona Daily Star when I was there, and unlike Your Humble Narrator went on to achieve greater heights in reportage.
I think this piece is a little dated. Especially as it relates to climate change.
I wasn’t debating climate change (although I could if anyone needs a way to fall asleep). Its just that the historical record is rife with huge fires, so automatically saying a big fire is due to climate change may or may not be provable. Some sources.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1112839109
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wildfires
Agree. Stuff gets complicated real fast.
https://www.airnow.gov/?city=Detroit&state=MI&country=USA
Mask up, Herb ole buddy!
While we can’t smell it * or visually see it you can tell there is “not-normal” haze in the air. And the numbers POB referred to don’t lie so I’m laying low and staying inside. Since the pollen count was already off the chart and no rain to flush it; it keeps blowing around and has me snortin and snottin with runny eyes. I figure I shouldn’t go a-looking for any more congestion. The bad part is the nor-east wind bringing all this wonderful cool and dry air down from Canada is also bringing the smoke particles. As suspected, the Michigan Grayling fire was caused by a local cretin’s campfire.
Herself’s elder sis is in Maryland, where the air seems particularly chewy. She and the hubster are both staying indoors.
It’s a bitch when you gotta floss after breathing.
Oh. Smoke from Canada. I thought the smoke was from the ears of an orange headed buffoon. You know, the guy who keeps complaining about the squirrels stealing his golf balls. Even though everybody knows that there aren’t any squirrels at his Mira-Fog-O golf course because he lets Marjorie Taylor-Greene roam free there at night.
Here in York Pee Eh, it’s hit pretty hard. My spiffy new air quality monitor has been giving me spectacular numbers and I’ve been using it as a teaching tool for the younger engineers at work. We’re off the EPA’s AQI chart for PM2.5 and PM10. We’ve zipped up the house and put the system blower on 24/7 operation to run the air through the filter and clean out as much as we can. Worked pretty well. I’ve been wearing my KN95 outdoors, but that’s been darn little.
Oof. Numbers are off the charts, yeah? Like “Please stop breathing until further notice” off the charts.
As a lifelong asthmatic, I’d think about wearing the KN95 indoors. Chihuahua.