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1:19 pm
Thursday 10 September 2020
Books – Rana Osama:
On Wednesday, the Gulf of California woke up to a scene from Mars. Orange and red colors covered the skies of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, amid falling ash, as wildfires in the distance raged.
“When smoke and ash get thicker near wildfires, they can cut off the sunlight completely, to make it look like a dark night,” said Judson Jones, a CNN meteorologist.
“End of the world”
The residents turned on the lights and looked at a dark rust-colored sky, confusing some of them, thinking it was still night. The winds carried wildfire smoke from far away, more than 200 miles away, but could be felt in the Gulf of California. And other places witnessed a similar glow from the sky as if it were the end of the world, according to “CNN.”
“It looks like the end of the world,” the San Francisco Chronicle quoted a West Portal resident, Katherine Gislin, as saying.
He continued, “It’s disturbing to see the darkness continue. It would seem strange to have lunch in the dark. But you have to get on with your day.”
Huge plumes of smoke from wildfires in California have triggered the longest unhealthy air quality alert period on record in the Bay Area, with 25 consecutive days of alerts. “The previous record was 14 consecutive days in 2018,” a district spokeswoman told CNN.
The fires destroyed more than 28 million acres of state land and killed at least 8 people. While about 14,000 firefighters are involved in fighting fires at 28 sites throughout California, amid an unprecedented heat wave.
“Sky of Mars”
“The smoke and ash look like the natural version of the Instagram filter,” Jones said. “Particles in the air break down sunlight, similar to how tiny air particles work when the sun sets or rises.”
An orange sky covered San Francisco, making American Zenha Patel feel like she was on another planet.
“It was surreal,” wrote Patel, “I felt like I woke up in the Martian sky!”
Chinatown, San Francisco 09.09.20 pic.twitter.com/tZFL2gEn09
– Zneha (@mithrilmaker) September 9, 2020
According to local media, it seemed that it was dawn, even though it was 10:45 am, and the sun’s rays were struggling to penetrate the thick smoke.
An American from Oakland, Michael McCune, documented houses in his neighborhood that were lit at 10 a.m., with a photo that he posted on his Instagram account.
“It’s a weird, horrible and terrifying feeling,” McCune told CNN. “I have lived in the Gulf region since 1988 and have never witnessed such condemnation from heaven.”
The sky was red over an old clothing store in Auckland. “Although the sky looked like this, it didn’t smell like smoke,” said Maya Misuriano, a store owner.
Experts said that this smoke also made the sky glow orange.
The Air Quality Administration of the Gulf region in the state said on Twitter that the smoke particles emitted by wildfires “only allow yellow-orange and red light to reach the surface, making the sky look like orange”.
National Weather Service expert Brian Garcia told the “San Francisco Chronicle” that this scene “is unfamiliar, because it requires very specific conditions for it to occur,” and continued: “It is clear that fires that produce thick smoke are needed. “.
Experts expect similar phenomena to repeat themselves in the coming days as the wildfires continue.
“Climate change”
Climate scientist Peter Gleick tried to capture the dark skies around his Berkeley home on Wednesday, but said the camera wasn’t doing him justice.
Sky in Berkeley at 8:20 am. The sun has risen for an hour and a half. pic.twitter.com/6mHxarKxX8
– Peter Gleick (@PeterGleick) September 9, 2020
“I’ve lived in Northern California since 1978. I’ve never seen a sky like this. It’s like midnight now (at 10:15 in the morning),” Glick said.
According to CNN, Gleick, founder of the Pacific Institute, an independent, non-partisan center for climate and water research in Auckland, who has studied climate science for 35 years, called what he saw outside his window as a “sign of the climate change”.
“Climate change is clearly and unequivocally affecting forest fires: higher temperatures, more droughts, more dead trees, severe weather, including winds,” he added.
Glick tweeted an image on his Twitter account that read: “It’s the Green New Deal (a set of proposed US economic stimulus programs to address climate change), or the end of the red world. The choice is yours.”
It’s the Green New Deal or the blood red apocalypse. Your choice. pic.twitter.com/Os6wUb0PqQ
– Peter Gleick (@PeterGleick) September 10, 2020
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