Wednesday, September 09, 2020

This is what the apocalypse looks like

 This is a photo of our house taken at noon today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is not the raw image.  I took this with an iPhone, whose auto-exposure made the image look much brighter than it actually is.  I've adjusted the brightness and color balance to match the actual appearance as much as I can.  Even so, this image doesn't do justice to the reality.  For one thing, the sky is much too blue.  The actual color of the sky is a reddish brown, the same overall hue as the rest of the image.  But the main thing to notice is that the lights in front of our house are on.  Those lights are on sensors that are supposed to make them only come on at night.  But here they are on at high noon in summer.  It's dark.  It feels like twilight.  We have to have lights on inside the house.  It is deeply creepy.

The cause of this is, of course, smoke from fires that are burning all around us, probably combined with some marine-layer overcast, though it is impossible to tell because the sky has absolutely no texture at all.  In 32 years of living in California full time, I have never seen anything like this.  No one has.  There has never been anything like this in recorded history.

Three days ago we set a record high at our house of 103 degrees.  Today it was 62 degrees when I woke up, and now at noon it has warmed up to a balmy 64.

I think we broke the planet.

UPDATE: The Washington Post has a story about this with better photos.

UPDATE2: It is now 2:30 in the afternoon and it just straight-up looks like night outside.  The sky is still glowing a faint dull red, about what you would expect an hour or so after sunset, but anywhere else you look it is full-on dark.  It is genuinely scary.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Ron (Erann), sorry to see and learn of your plight there.Ever make you long for East Tn? Sadly just learned of Irit's passing. I was on a visit to my parents in Oak Ridge
This may not be proper forum but it is only method l had to convey sincere condolence
Bruce Malone

Ron said...

Thanks, Bruce. FYI, here are two links to memorial pages for Irit: [1] [2]

To answer, no, I don't long for East Tennessee. Most of the time it's beautiful here in NorCal. In fact, it's beautiful here right now. The nearby fires are out, the smoke has moved east, and we're back to normal, at least weather-wise, at least for the time being. Even with the fires, I'll still take this over humidity and mosquitoes.

Unknown said...

You probably do not even have any recollection of me. But l would enjoy talking about Klaus Nettischiem someday.

Ron said...

If this is still Bruce Malone, I remember your name, but not much else. Sorry. It has been 38 years, and my brain is not as young as it used to be.

But I have no idea who Klaus Nettischiem is.

Unknown said...

Klaus was the biggest asshole at Lindem Elementy
. My earliest introduction to racism / anti-semitism was thru him towards you. He was physically brutal to you
I was very proud of you when you were able to sing and narrate what seemed to be perfect Hebrew for our 6th grade pageant for Ms Cantor
And then Leo Uelhoff.. the German kid only you kid you could speak with Ol Klaus couldnt stand it. I was always amazed about that detail of your abilities then. Anyway hopefully we can talk soon
You have accomplished quite a bit l understand. Maybe we can exchange emails sometime. Take care. Bruce Malone
Yes your little sister is special. 38 years wow

Unknown said...

We really go back to 1975....
45 years. 38 since graduation

Ron said...

Wow, you seem to remember my childhood better than I do!

Please drop me an email. My address is at the bottom of my home page.

Unknown said...

I am not the most tech savvy. I might be lazy too. Could you provide a link, l will explain later. Thanks !!