The Canadian wildfire smoke descended on us again this year. The hot and dry conditions of June caused some massive fires up in Ontario and toward the end of the week the air quality went from okay to unhealthy as the winds blew the smoke this way. Now that I don't have to work I've been trying to get out a couple times during the week and at least once on the weekend. This past Saturday we had a good ride to the Blawenburg Bistro and Tuesday I road back from the shore. I was planning on going out again this week but when I went to airnow.gov I saw the air quality was well into the unhealthy range. Of course I did really need to see the news reports or particle counts in the air to know it was not healthy to go out as it smelled like smoke outside. The look of the air was also weird as it wasn't the normal hazy that is caused by fog or clouds.
The picture above is a couple hours before sunset. The only way you can a clear picture of the suns disk without it being sunrise or sunset is by using a solar filter which blocks out 99.999% of the suns light. The fact that I could get this picture without a filter shows you how much smoke and dust is in the air blocking the suns light.
This meant there was no outdoor activity for me for the last few days of the week. Spending any extended time outdoors would not be good for your health as the particles in the air are so small and numerous that they can bypass a lot of the standard body defenses and get into your lungs and bloodstream.
The predictions of air quality and smoke cover are even worst than normal weather forecasting so my hope for a ride on Saturday was crushed when I saw the air quality when I got up in the morning. I'm hoping to get out on Sunday and hope the wind direction changes for the rest of the week so I can spend more time outside.
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