Between the constant presence of wildfire smoke and stifling 100-plus degree temperatures, Bay Area residents have grown accustomed to the fact that exiting one’s home feels like sticking one’s head into a barbecue grill.
But this morning, we were treated to something new: a bright crimson sky and raining ash, which has bathed the entire region in a sickly, otherworldly orange glow.
Admit it — we’ve all felt for a while like the Apocalypse was nigh. Exiting your home to find the world glowing a sprightly neon orange just seems to confirm it.
As a photographer, I’m very sensitive to the color temperature of light. I love to see (and capture) how it changes throughout the day, from the pale yellow of early morning to the bright blue of midday to the subtle, warm tones of the “magic hour” just before sunset.
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Most people, on most days, aren’t aware that the color of light changes through the day — or that it varies at all. Today, it couldn’t possibly be more obvious.
To capture the way the sky actually looks, I found I had to disable auto white balance when editing the photos from my Leica Q. The sky was so orange that Adobe Lightroom assumed there must be some technical issue going on and tried to make it white again.
That’s the same reason you’re probably having trouble capturing today’s apocalyptic sky with your cellphone. Its imaging chip looks at the color of today’s light, goes, “Naw, that can’t be right,” and tries to correct it for you.
You know you’re living in strange times when you walk outside, say, “Hmm, the sky’s on fire! Cool,” and then go about your normal day.
It was almost pitch black outside at 9 a.m. The automatic street lights and facility lights were still on, assuming (reasonably) that with light levels this low, it must have still been 4 a.m.
With Covid-19 lockdowns wearing on for months, the distinction between days and months is basically meaningless. Now, the same applies to the day and night, too!
I loaded up Purple Air to check the air quality, in what has become a daily ritual for Californians. I half expected it to just say “OH F***” in big letters.
But apparently surface-level air quality isn’t too bad. Today’s Martian sky is brought to you by high-level smoke from several nearby wildfires, which is blowing into the Bay Area.
Still, I wouldn’t go for a walk.
My three-year-old offered this explanation: “Bad guys lit a campfire. And now the outside is yellow.” Seems plausible.
I know, I know — science and all. But I can totally see how in ancient times, people would look at a sky like this and go “Wow, the gods are pissed.”
As a bit of icing on our end-times cake, the ground in the East Bay is also blanketed in a swirling layer of ash — like the snow for which we normally have to go to Tahoe, but right here at home!
Yet, the Bay Area’s charms are such that despite our Technicolor sky, streets filled with cheerfully billowing ash, and oven-like temperature, there’s nowhere else I’d rather live.
Enjoy your d̶a̶y̶ perpetual, glowing twilight, everyone!
