SMOKE: ‘Unhealthy’ air tonight; still expected to start clearing out Sunday

9:45 PM: Last night just before sunset, the reddened sun was visible through the smoke. Tonight, we took the photo above just before sunset, and nothing was visible looking west but the hazy outline of Blake Island. A few minutes later, here’s the view looking downtown.

The National Weather Service’s Air Quality Alert remains in effect through 6 pm Sunday, and the NWS expects things to start improving “late Sunday”; the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency says so too. But for now, tonight many areas are showing “unhealthy” air quality – either for “sensitive groups” or for everyone.

P.S. If not for the smoke, we’d be seeing a full moon tonight. The moon was in view last night/this morning before more smoke swept in, so as consolation, here’s this morning’s moonset, photographed by James Bratsanos:

11:33 PM: The moon is visible after all, and red-tinged – we’ve received a few photos including this one from Jerry Simmons:

seaopgal September 11, 2022 (4:09 am)

To add to the misery, Friday evening and again Saturday evening, a contractor on our street in the Junction was “teaching” one of his crew to use a diesel backhoe, going back and forth, back and forth across the property for several hours. No respirator for the operator, no respite for the neighbors.

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