If you’ve noticed a orange-ish, Tatooine-like haze to the Washington sky today, you’re not going crazy. Smoke from the West Coast wildfires has carried across the country and into the region, according to the National Weather Service. This will cause the sun to be filtered for much of the day, the report says.
Over 4.6 million acres in 10 states have been burned by the fires, according to CNN, and at least 35 people have died. Scientists largely attribute the wildfires to climate change, reports the New York Times, while President Donald Trump has placed the blame on lack of forest management.
We rounded up some tweets from folks in the Washington area chronicling today’s smoky sky:
Well that explains why the sun looked like that this morning. Wildfire smoke haze 😔 https://t.co/AO5cqWfVUq pic.twitter.com/6MLNc6MJTa
— Christina Shorter (@ShorterCR) September 15, 2020
https://twitter.com/ALCassady/status/1305876251450765313?s=20
Looks like the west coast smoke has made it to the DC area. It’s 10AM and supposedly sunny. pic.twitter.com/KjwqcmaS5P
— Bryan Liles (@bryanl) September 15, 2020
https://twitter.com/decarboxy/status/1305872769750573057?s=20
The East Coast may be 2,500 miles + from the #CaliforniaWildfires but the skies are now hazy here from the transcontinental smoke, meteorologists are telling us. This is Alexandria, VA, this morning. #ClimateCrisis @CNSmd pic.twitter.com/EvGZENdjEB
— James Robert Carroll (@JRCarrollNews) September 15, 2020
https://twitter.com/alt_terrain/status/1305863947053150211?s=20
Smoke from the West Coast #wildfires casting a haze over an otherwise lovely DC fall day. pic.twitter.com/gsLkL6uVSj
— Varun Nangia (vnangia@mastodon.social) (@vnangia) September 15, 2020
Shot of the sun muted by haze this morning over the Potomac from the Belle Haven Marina in Alexandria. @fox5dc @fox5weather #potomac #baldeagle #weather #hazy #smoke #fire pic.twitter.com/nxa9UThhCZ
— Abe Mousavi (@MusaVisual) September 15, 2020
September 2020: A lidless sun smolders in a dusky sky over DC, shadowed by historic fires a continent away on the West Coast.
Vast clouds of smoke stretch over this @EPA & @forestservice map of our union, which shows Americans the state of our air quality: https://t.co/hoobpD7dsH pic.twitter.com/HMnczeRcdg— Alex Howard (@digiphile) September 15, 2020
Wildfire smoke-filtered sun this morning in Chevy Chase. Need to dig up my eclipse glasses. pic.twitter.com/F99fC7jdY8
— Eric Niiler (@eniiler) September 15, 2020
Surreal smoky sunrise. #DC #smoke @capitalweather @PoPville @KathrynProciv pic.twitter.com/hYKcEy8Azi
— Phil Yabut (@philliefan_99) September 15, 2020
I took this picture of the setting sun last night at around 6:30 p.m. while walking on M Street near our apartment. Some of the smoke from the wildfires in the West has made its way to #DC pic.twitter.com/da7uRc6nv2
— Michael K. Lavers (He/Him) (@mklavers81) September 15, 2020
9/15/2020 — Weird sunrise in Washington with California wildfire smoke blowing in, 8:02am. (Video by Graeme Sloan)…#CaliforniaFires pic.twitter.com/voyL202yit
— Graeme Sloan (@SloanGraeme) September 15, 2020
Hey @FSlazer – your smoke has reached us. Milky skies in DC today. pic.twitter.com/sHjTbVoKxH
— Joe Cassady (@marsjoe) September 15, 2020
What planet are we on again? @PoPville #smokeysun pic.twitter.com/Kmoml8Y5FD
— Chae (@chaeserasera) September 15, 2020
Seems as though the west coast air has arrived in Washington, DC. pic.twitter.com/TKvEhTmvCU
— Tamara Keith (@tamarakeithNPR) September 15, 2020
Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.
