A view of the San Francisco Bay Bridge at 10:42am. Photo / Jim Wilson, The New York Times
A view of the San Francisco Bay Bridge at 10:42am. Photo / Jim Wilson, The New York Times
Across Northern California, huge plumes of smoke from a fire that blasted through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada billowed high into the atmosphere, turning day into an eerie twilight.
Hours after sunrise Wednesday, residents of the San Francisco Bay Area waited for daylight. Instead they got only the faintestsuggestion that somewhere above the smoky skies, the sun had indeed risen.
Some called it a nuclear winter. Cars kept their headlights on. Office towers in San Francisco, where the smoke is mixing with fog, were illuminated as if in the middle of the night.
Food was delivered to a grocery store in Oakland, California, around 10am. Photo / Jim Wilson, The New York Times
Bicyclists rode along the Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco at 10:55am. Photo / Jim Wilson, The New York Times
Across Northern California, giant plumes of smoke from a fire that blasted through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada billowed and spread high in the atmosphere, blotting out the sun.
The Bear Fire, as it is known, added to the smoke already pumped into the atmosphere by the more than 20 large fires burning across California.
The Bear Fire burned on Wednesday on a hillside near the Bidwell Bar Bridge in Oroville, California. Photo / AP
The Forbestown community in Butte County, California, was engulfed by the fire. Photo / AP
The blaze expanded as winds buffeted the region. Photo / AP
Craig Shoemaker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, said the immense volume of smoke from the Bear Fire rose overnight to 40,000 feet, where the air is frigid.
"We have a huge cloud of ash and ice," he said, adding that the plume resembled thunderclouds.
Fires are essentially creating their own weather, Shoemaker said. "Without the smoke, it would be a clear day," he said. "This is all generated from the fires."
The San Francisco skyline at 10:25am, with the tops of skyscrapers lost in a mixture of smoke and fog. Photo / Jim Wilson, The New York Times
Lake Merritt in Oakland at 9am. Photo / Jim Wilson, The New York Times
Changing wind patterns will start to push the smoke eastward, potentially clearing the air near the coast, Shoemaker said, but he added a caveat.
Early in the week, the winds blew wildfire smoke hundreds of miles out over the Pacific Ocean. As they reverse, that old smoke will probably be pushed back ashore.
