7-25-2021

This smoke is from the Tamarack Fire burning around Monitor Pass about 35 miles southeast of here. The initial lightning ignition on 4th was allowed to burn, due to rugged, hazardous access and sparse fuels, but high winds a couple weeks later caused it to rapidly grow to threaten a few little towns and highways and ultimately burned a couple dozen structures and nearly 70,000 acres, mostly in the wilderness, and beneficially. The AQI was 118 at home, with air quality expected to be a bit better here on the west side of Sierra Crest, but not so much.