A grim sight

It looks like a movie set, but this is a 100-year old railroad trestle going up in flames near Yakima, Washington.  The wildfire situation across the entire Northwest is grim this morning, and we keep hearing that overused and unwelcome word "unprecedented."

The climate in Washington state is dramatically different on the eastern side of the Cascade mountains, and wildfires are typically more of a problem over there.  But this fire event quickly became a statewide crisis, and people have lost their homes in cities and towns all around western Washington, including the suburbs of Seattle. This unprecedented (sigh) drought and unprecedented (sigh) windstorm led to this unprecedented (sigh) fire situation.  

There's a massive fire burning in Okanagan County, but so far at least, not in the Methow Valley.  However, they've been plagued with power and cell phone outages. Amanda said this morning they can make calls and text, but still can't get on the Internet.  Which leaves you somewhat adrift of information these days.

Nova was up at 6 am yesterday morning, so excited about the first day of school.  Cancelled. The girls only go on Monday and Tuesday, and now have to wait another week at least. 

Here in Seattle, our only problem is the smokey, polluted air.  It gets pretty warm by afternoon, but the days are already shorter and the mornings cool and dark. By the weekend, the weather shifts to a more typical pattern, with marine air coming off the Pacific. Still no rain in the forecast, but it will be much cooler with higher humidity.