California Wildfires

[Alpha8472]

California was hit by wildfires starting just over a week ago. There was a massive amount of dry lightning that sparked thousands of fires. The fires are burning across mainly Northern and Central California. The air is more toxic than it has ever been. It is the middle of the day and the sky is dark gray. The sun is hazy and the world looks sepia toned. When you look at the sun it is a red circle.

I have never see it this bad, and the fires have burned more land than in the past few years. An area greater than the Grand Canyon has burned.

They say that produce is covered in ash. PG&E has cut power to fire areas and many farms cannot even irrigate their crops due to lack of power. The produce is covered in ash and farmers say that they do not have the labor to wash their produce. It is up to the customer to do that. The farmers that cannot irrigate their crops and those that cannot harvest their crops are going to take a major loss. This is could lead to higher produce prices across the country. Many areas are closed off due to fires and workers cannot get to the crops to harvest them.

Also many stores and supermarkets seem to be less crowded due to people staying at home to avoid the hazardous air. It is really toxic out there. Even healthy people are suffering. My car was coated in a layer of ash and I am many miles away from any major wildfires. Stores are obviously not equipped with MERV 13 filters as you can tell the air inside is thick with ash. It even hurts your lungs indoors. The smell everywhere is horrible like toxic fumes and horrible smelling wood.

I would think that people would be hoarding again, but the stores are not yet emptied of merchandise. People seem to be exhausted from all the shopping.

[BillyGr]

Maybe a side benefit to having stocked up so much in the past is that people won't need to do as much for this event?