West Seattle Weather Watch: Why the sunlight is truly golden

Now that we’ve got some late-afternoon sunshine, wondering why there’s a more-golden-than-usual cast to it? The Eastern Washington/B.C. wildfires, pointed out John on the WS Blog Facebook wall. He writes, “The recent outbreak of fires is saturating the atmosphere, and the Seattle area is over 50% saturation … the most recent update can be found on www.wunderground.com/wundermap – go to settings below and turn on ‘fire’.” This also has been written about this afternoon by famous forecaster Cliff Mass, who includes imagery to explain the phenomenon.

10 Replies to "West Seattle Weather Watch: Why the sunlight is truly golden"

  • Hotel Palm Springs August 1, 2010 (5:43 pm)

    I bet it is beautiful, too bad beauty is coming at the expense of BC.

  • angelescrest August 1, 2010 (6:44 pm)

    It’s not beautiful–we think it looks weird. The backyard has an orange glow.

  • clark5080 August 1, 2010 (6:45 pm)

    Could be a very nice sunset tonight

  • Johnston August 1, 2010 (7:06 pm)

    I saw the golden sun and thought it meant smoke in the atmosphere. Forgot about the eastern Washington / BC fires. Thanks for confirming WSB!

  • Jo August 1, 2010 (7:06 pm)

    Wow, that explains why my asthma has really been a problem for the last couple of days. I couldn’t figure out what was going on.
    And, I just noticed that the sun is sort of a hazy orange-sherbet color.
    Weird is right.

  • JH August 1, 2010 (8:06 pm)

    I’m anxiously awaiting the sunset with camera in hand!

  • Admiral Janeway August 1, 2010 (9:13 pm)

    Around 9:00 I could actually smell the smoke.

  • Kelly K August 1, 2010 (9:43 pm)

    We thought it looked creepy, too. Like a sodium vapor lamp or something.

  • visitor August 1, 2010 (10:51 pm)

    It’s eerie and a bit spooky.

  • yacman August 2, 2010 (6:35 am)

    The sun was truly beautiful last night. But, although I don’t generally suffer from allergies, and I checked and the pollen count is low, I have suffered from serious headaches the last three nights and my eyes are watering. I’m just wondering if the burning might be the cause and if others are suffering with this. Perhaps I’m just hypersensitive. Never thought I’d say this in August, but I’m glad rain is predicted.

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