San Francisco residents woke up to an apocalyptically orange sky on Wednesday morning, as the West Coast continues to battle a series of devastating wildfires.
Twitter has been overwhelmed with photos of the fires in California, caused by a combination of lightning storms and… gender reveal parties.
The biggest wildfire in the state is the Creek Fire in the Madera and Fresno counties, which has reportedly burned an area the size of Central Park every 30 minutes over the past several days.
The #CreekFire has made its way to Shaver Lake. @latimes @latimesphotos pic.twitter.com/IO1DIxrlrw
— Kent Nishimura (@kentnish) September 6, 2020
In San Fran, the regional air pollution control agency said the orange skies are a result of wildfire smoke in the area.
“Strong winds over the past few days transported ash from fires in northern California and the Sierra Nevada into the region,” Bay Area Air Quality explained on Twitter.
“These smoke particles scatter blue light and only allow yellow-orange-red light to reach the surface, causing skies to look orange.”
This year’s fires have been made even worse by a record-shattering heat wave, with California governor Gavin Newsom stressing the link between the severity of the wildfires and climate change.
“We are dealing with the reality of some 14,000 lightning strikes over a 72-hour period,” he said. “Trust me, that did not occur last year. That had previously occurred in the late 1980s.”
“But when you add to the lightning strikes, the fact that you have 150 plus million dead trees related to a five plus year historic drought in the state of California. Yes, I conclude climate change profoundly has impacted the reality that we’re currently experiencing.”
On Wednesday, 14,000 firefighters were said to be fighting the 28 major fires across the state. More than 2.5 million acres have burned this year, which – according to the New York Times – is 20 times what burned this time last year.
A state of emergency has been declared in Fresno, Mariposa, Madera Counties, and San Bernardino County.
The pictures from San Fran really are like a scene straight out of Blade Runner: 2049.
left: san francisco/bay area rn right: blade runner 2049 pic.twitter.com/52JPRuHIBU
— anaïs (@anaisisdrawing) September 9, 2020
This is unreal. The San Francisco Embarcadero 9/9/20.
— Briana Whitney (@BrianaWhitney) September 9, 2020
https://twitter.com/mithrilmaker/status/1303715600963792896?s=21
It’s noon in San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/id1qZ7rfr3
— Jared Petty (@pettycommajared) September 9, 2020
This next picture was taken by a drone for The Verge.
What #SanFrancisco looks like almost 2 hours after sunrise. #CaliforniaFires pic.twitter.com/KD6t39ctV1
— V (@vjeranpavic) September 9, 2020
I’ve never seen anything like this in San Francisco. Ever. pic.twitter.com/134UVRopix
— Chris Ceg (@chrisceg) September 9, 2020
The day the sun didn’t rise in San Francisco. #Fires @SFGate pic.twitter.com/cl8kz3WW51
— Christopher Michel (@chrismichel) September 9, 2020
Eli Harik wears a mask while gazing at the Bay Bridge and heavy orange skies due to nearby wildfires hanging over San Francisco on Wednesday, September 9 @sfchronicle pic.twitter.com/B2wahjkeRw
— Jessica Christian (@jachristian) September 9, 2020
It’s 12 p.m. in #SanFrancisco and here’s what my neighborhood looks like right now. @sfchronicle pic.twitter.com/XhBg2b4kpG
— Santiago Mejia (@SantiagoMejia) September 9, 2020
One more, to push you over the edge.
https://twitter.com/Allief0rnia/status/1303767843905839105
