Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

The smoke from the Caldor and Dixie fires has been with us so long now that I've worked out an approximate scale of what the AQI PM2.5 (dust and smoke) index is based on what I can see from the front porch.

Under 50 (Good): Clear skies; visibility good
50-100 (Moderate): Haze; smoke visible around the surrounding hills and mountains
100-150 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups): Hills still visible but outlines smudged
150-200 (Unhealthy): Hills mostly fading out, but Interstate 80 (500 m north) still visible
200-250 (Very Unhealthy): Hills and mountains not visible due to smoke.
>250 (Hazardous): Freeway traffic just barely visible; periodic ash falling from the sky

In the worst cases, Lisa wears her paint respirator, which is N95 but also seems to condition the air and cool it, which helps a lot. However, for the most part during the worst air quality we just stay under cover and hope that the filters we have on the air conditioner, swamp cooler, and fans are catching the worst of the smoke.

I'm so glad we have a good supply of the DemeTECH N95 face masks. A few evenings, even with not great quality air, we have sat out on the porch wearing our masks when the temperature has been mild enough just to spend time not focusing only on things close in. But not when the AQI is over around 175.

Despite the continuing smoke, Lisa and I managed to get in to Reno this morning to do grocery shopping. We didn't get started as early as we might have liked, which means the stores had more people in them that we would have liked, but at least most of them were wearing masks over both their nose and mouth. We did our business as quickly as we could and headed home.

In the afternoon, I did some Westercon 74 business, including finally revising the paper version of the membership form after someone pointed out to me that we'd never changed it. (The online prices are correct, but I'd forgotten to revise the paper form even after we activated Operation Two-Step to postpone the convention for a year. I guess that shows how few people still use the paper form, but also that we've not been at an in-person convention where paper membership forms are more useful since the 2019 Loscon.

I initially thought that the weather forecast last night for today had accidentally come from a different place, but I could feel the temperatures dropping before going to bed and I was able to leave the swamp cooler off last night instead of pointing it into the bedroom the way I've been doing most of the past week. It was 10° C — that's Celsius degrees — cooler today than yesterday, i.e. 25° C versus 35 the previous day. The overnight lows were also much cooler, and that meant we were able to get a lot of the heat out of the house. I even had to start closing windows because it was getting too cold, and for a while this morning I was wearing a sweater. It was like a taste of autumn weather a few weeks early, and I was happy for it after the sweltering heat we've been having.

At first, I assumed that one reason it was colder was that we just were not getting any sun through the smoke clouds, but the wind shifted, the smoke rolled away, the AQI smoke index dropped back below 50 (clear) for the first time in many days. After lunch, Lisa and I put the small propane tank on the hand truck and rolled it down to Hanneman Service. It's needed refilling for some days now, but we weren't going out into that broiling sun the last few days, especially with AQI figures up above 250.

Lisa and I celebrated a temperate day with clear air by sitting out on the porch without face masks for an hour or so this evening watching the birds argue with each other over who had dibs on the bird feeder. With temperatures forecast to go down as low as 11°C tonight and good air quality, I'm expecting some of the best sleep I've had in weeks. Overall, I'm in firm agreement with the headline from this afternoon's statement from the National Weather Service: "...Cooler, Less Smoke - Yes We'll Take That..."

I am, however, unhappy to see a new large wildfire, the Caldor Fire, burning southwest of Lake Tahoe and as of the latest update I read, over 25,000 hectares, or 250 km². Besides the general unhappiness about more fires, this fire looks to be about the same distance from my friend Rick's home in the Placerville area as I am from Reno.

On July 24, I installed air filters on the box fans that I have to use to keep air moving into (and sometimes out of) the house to try and cool it off overnight. Yesterday, after a brief brake in the smoke, I took the opportunity to replace them with new filters. The photos below are of the new and old filters, which should give you an idea of just how much gunk has been in the air these past three weeks.

( New and Old Filters )

I'm glad I started putting these filters on the fans, and as I've said before, also glad that my CPAP machine is triple-filtered. I look at these pictures and envision all of that dust and gunk getting into my lungs and I start to cough just thinking about it.

This afternoon is slightly clearer, with the AQI at a mere 80 (moderate), but nearby detectors are showing 160 (unhealthy) and the National Weather Service projects that the conditions could get very bad tonight, possibly going up into the 400 (hazardous; take cover now) range.

Yesterday was surprisingly clear and relatively cool once the sun set, to the point that Lisa and I were able to go out for a walk after dinner only carrying our masks in case we encountered other people and needed to cover up. As we got home in the deepening dark, we could see, however, that smoke was on its way, thanks to the patterns in the sky.

( Sky Wave )

I have today off from work — I'd actually booked the day off, needed because I'm close to the edge of the use-it-or-lose-it mark in my PTO bank, last Friday, and then forgot about it, so I took today off instead, with the agreement of my manager. Last night was relatively cool (overnight low of around 15°C, which is much better than the 20+ we've been having), but after doing the small bit of Day Jobbe I needed to do before actually logging out for the weekend, I went outside and saw how bad it had gotten, as smoke from the Dixie Fire (fresh from having destroyed Greenville, California) and other wildfires has blown this way.

( Sun? What Sun )

Normally we avoid Reno this week because it's Hot August Nights, but we figured that if we went in at 6:30 in the morning, we could avoid most traffic, and that was true. We avoided the inbound rush to Reno and thereafter the rest of our shopping errands to three different stores were counter-commute. By the time we headed for home around 9 AM, we also avoided the Reno-to-USA-Parkway crowd.

The Washoe County (Reno area) air quality management division issued a Stage 2 Emergency Alert for today, with the AQI ranging from unhealthy to very unhealthy, although not yet hazardous like it was a few days ago. Recommendations are to stay indoors and avoid all outdoor activity if possible. Unfortunately, our air conditioning requires keeping some windows open, so we can't just recirculate air, although we do have filters over the window fans to keep some of the smoke out. Indeed, I'm going to need to replace those filters soon, even after only a couple of weeks of use. Even indoors, I'm feeling a little poorly from the amount of smoke in the air. Maybe I should go back to bed; my CPAP machine is triple-filtered, and I've been replacing/cleaning the filters much more often than usual lately.

There was no improvement in smoke conditions today, and indeed it's getting worse, with the National Weather Service predicting unhealthy to hazardous air conditions today. We needed to get groceries, so we both masked up with our N95 filters, which are probably all that can do something against the smoke. (The wetted-down cloth masks provider initial comfort, but do less to filter the fine smoke particles.) Maybe I was imagining it, but the air did seem cleaner to taste under my N95 mask.

Taking some advise I saw online from a California state air-quality management agency, yesterday, we bought a couple of 20x20-inch air filters and taped them over the box fans we have. We do not have a forced-air cooling system (except inside the travel trailer), and we have to open the windows at night to try and force out the hot air in the house and bring in cooler air, smoke or not. After only one night, we had photographic evidence of how dirty the air is right now.

( Filters, Before and After )

Maybe I should leave the filter off the fan set to exhaust air, as I really don't care if I'm blowing dust and smoke out of the house.

The AQI reported in Fernley shortly after we got back from grocery shopping in Reno was a whopping 462, which is listed as Hazardous, with a recommendation that we stay indoors. I'm wondering if I should wear my N95 mask even inside today. Should I have to go outside again today, I'll definitely wear that mask. Breathing smoke is No Fun.

After a couple of clear-ish days, the wind shifted again and smoke from the Dixie, Tamarack, Beckwourth, and other smaller Sierra wildfires moved back over us. I could smell it strongly when I woke up this morning, and it was pretty clear what the effects were when I went out to put seed in the bird feeder.

( Not Mordor-like, but Suggestive )

I've heard some people (notably Keith Olbermann) say that the smoke blanketing New York and the northeastern US is coming from the fires here in California, but the way I read the satellite maps, it's mostly a whole bunch of wildfires in Canada — which are getting almost no coverage from the USA that I've noticed — that are producing that particular batch of smoke. Not that it matters. Why anyone would feel nationalistic about wildfires is beyond me.

I'm mostly staying indoors, although as I have to open windows at night to cool the house down, I'm still getting smoke. When I go outdoors, I'm masking up, even on our own property, using cloth masks soaked with water to reduce the smoke.

The Tamarack Fire in the Sierra Nevada and other wildfires is generating a lot of smoke, and it has blown back over us worse than yesterday. The photos below were taken around 4:45 PM today, and instead of a bright, sunny day, we have lots of smoky gloom.

( Where Did the Mountains Go? )

If you stay outside for a while, you'll see some fine ashfall. I'm not going outside very much, and when I do so, I'm wearing a cloth face mask soaked in cold water to breathe more easily.

The fire does not directly threaten us — it's around 110 km / 70 mi southwest of Fernley — but you'd think it would make people more aware of the dangers of wildfires. Last night we were started several times by someone shooting off fireworks around the area. They did not appear to set anything on fire, but it certainly concerned us because it would be way too easy to do with all of the dry brush in the area.

Only a week after clearing the winter brush pile, we have started on the summer one, for safety reasons.

( The Never Ending Clearance )

The field next to our house does not belong to us; however, until an owner shows up to tell us otherwise (in which case we'll ask them to clean up their act), we're working to try and keep the area clear along our fence. While we are perhaps two minutes away from the fire station, the best wildfires are the ones that never got started in the first place.

In the meantime, we hope that the wildlife that use that field appreciate the new temporary habitat. During the past week. we've seen chipmunks, rabbits, and quail show up where the old pile was with a distinct air of "What happened?" about them. I can see why they'd be disappointed. There are predators around here, particularly some hawks that I've seen come swooping down on that lot, and having places to quickly shelter — the hawks can't get into the brush; we've seen them try it — is important to the little critters.

A change in the weather has led to most of the wildfire smoke dispersing. Yesterday was vastly better than the days prior.

( Yesterday Versus the Day Before )

There was a little bit more smoke in the air today, but nothing much, and the AQI in Reno dropped back below 50 (clear), which was a great relief. Maybe I can start walking again without worrying about coughing fits.