It's not gloomy, that's smoke!

The skies here in the Victor Valley in California are hazy, the sun hasn't peeked out for a couple of days, and there is just a general feeling of malaise in the air. The problem isn't clouds, it's smoke from all the fires on the other side of the hill. The prevailing winds naturally push everything from the coast back to the mountains and then over into our valley. For several days it was palpable, smelly, and rained ashes down on everything. It doesn't smell today, but the air is still full of nasty pollutants that no one wants to breathe in. The folks that live closest to all this smoke must really be having breathing troubles, how I wish it wasn't so. We all pray for the fires to be over, knowing full well that if the wind starts really blowing it could run the fire up to the top of the mountains and back down our side. It happened in 2003, I don't want to see it again.