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Wanted to capture a super red sunset, but the smoke is so thick, the sun was completely blocked.

Another hot summer day here. Got to 100.1* today at 15:09 Great view of the GWB looking west towards my home state, Jersey this evening

Ick

Smoke smell is very strong now. Can see the smoke in the tree tops now as well

Seeing some 4 and 5+ inch reports from those jersey storms.

Yes, I figured that is what happened, and you confirmed it. I work w/ fire and smoke detection and mapping where I work. Here is our main product. https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/land/hms.html#maps Gets reset every day around 6am, and fire points and smoke areas are added in real time both automatically and manually during the day through late evening. Wind by *far* is the biggest factor in wildfire spread and intensity. And w/ the passage of a cold front you are going to get drier air advected in as well, so smoldering or low-level fires suddenly can get a massive boost. This also happened in central Quebec last summer or the summer before. Smoldering fires ignited by lightning and held at bay by rain occurred, and then the cold front passed, and all at once, you saw multiple fires erupt in sync across the region w/ big smoke plumes. This is was due to strong winds behind the cold front. Some think, "but it just raining a lot, how could things burn so much?" Well, that's a disconnect that exists. Things are a lot more complex than led on. There is a reason why fire wx has it own branch in meteorology, and the nuances and idiosyncrasies are rife and not what you'd expect! It is pretty amazing stuff. The sheer amount of training modules on MetEd/COMET is impressive, so that shows how big and complex this field is. And despite what MSM constantly pushes, drought or hot temps have little or nothing to do w/ wildfires. High winds are low RH are *everything*. You can have the wettest month on record, and then get fire wx warnings not days later. Recall March 2010 how wet it was in SNE, esp. RI? Well, a few days after a big flood event events, fire wx warnings were put up for the region This b/c windy conditions and low RH will dry out grass and shrubs in short order (called 1-hour fuels). Also, being spring, it's all still dead vegetation that burns easily. Open grasslands in the Plains are the same. Massive wildfires occur when no drought is present, again b/c it is largely 1-hour fuels. And in places like CA? Well, you have the wet season, and then the dry season by default, so most everything that sprouts/grows during the wet season, dies and decays in the dry season for a prime fuel load, and the wetter the wet season, often the worse that wildfire season later in the dry season. Couple that w/ Santa Ana winds, and drought conditions are irrelevant. You are going to get dried out and desiccated vegetation for lots of wildfire fuel no matter what every year.

you can thank my best friend forkyfork

Is that an app?

The high dew point and smoke combo this evening is terrible!

5 straight days under -34 is pretty impressive 16 Jul 2026 1013.27 1018.25 -36.50 -25.58 -18.73 15 Jul 2026 1012.10 1017.65 -40.01 -24.45 -18.16 14 Jul 2026 1011.36 1016.35 -36.56 -23.53 -17.62 13 Jul 2026 1010.44 1015.10 -34.53 -23.20 -17.20 12 Jul 2026 1009.89 1015.20 -38.53 -23.21 -16.92 It looks like the last time the 30-day was below -30 was 1983. We are -25.58 Since 1905 30 day has only hit -30 twice. 4x since 1876.

Just went outside for the first time since about 3pm and I can definitely smell the smoke.

I have a Kohler 22KW whole house generator (2013) no issues, has about 310 hrs. on it. I do annual service on it, have replaced the battery every 3-4 years.

Power back on here at 7:10 PM. I hit a couple of détours trying to get back to Flying Pond on 41 from Farmington due to downed trees and wires.

Interesting. Thanks.

That cell is incredibly unusual. Vis down to less then a mile now at jones beach .

We’ll likely exceed 1997’s 72 days, which would put it as 2nd longest on record (back to 1991). But #1 (from 1998) is way up at 100 days. I have no idea if it will get that high. With that still being 33 days away, it would be quite awhile before I could even try to forecast whether or not it will be reached. Since that would be quite the accomplishment, I feel chances are well under 50% as of now. Let’s see how things go.

It’s coming

Had to play a 6 hour round of golf for a golf outing/fundraiser today. Horrific

Tornado warning for ocean

Even with the smoke and a wind off of the lake, both ORD and MDW hit 91° today.

Even with the smoke and a wind off of the lake, both ORD and MDW hit 91° today. ...2026 90°+ Day Tally... 10 - MDW 10 - ARR 9 - ORD 9 - RFD 9 - LOT 8 - PWK 8 - UGN 7 - DPA

At just before 8PM, I started getting mainly light to occasionally moderate rain. The relevant convection had developed nearby as a result of an E moving outflow boundary colliding with the seabreeze front. But what had been a heavy thunderstorm weakened by the time it started here. So, whereas this is measurable, it still isn’t much.

How is it looking? You’re pretty good at guessing what the SOI will be in the coming days. Will we break the record?

Almost like 2023 with the red glow during the sunset and through the smoke.

From our bedroom in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia... between the smoke, the heat, and dew points hovering between 75-80 the word oppressive does not even do today justice!