People of San Francisco and some parts in and around California woke up to an orange sky that looked hauntingly eerie. According to News18, smoke from wildfires in California had painted the sky with a dark orange hue. Dark skies blocked the sun turning day into night.
As reported by BBC, around 14,000 firefighters are trying to tackle the 28 major blazes across California. As of now, wildfires have burned more than 2.5 million acres, claiming the lives of around eight people.
Tweeting the reason for this unusual occurrence, the air quality officials of San Francisco Bay said:
These smoke particles scatter blue light & only allow yellow-orange-red light to reach the surface, causing skies to look orange. If smoke becomes too thick in a certain area, most of the light will be scattered & absorbed before reaching the surface, which may cause dark skies.
— Bay Area Air Quality (@AirDistrict) September 9, 2020
Social media also turned orange after people online shared visuals of the darkened sky. Take a look:
LOOK: Orange haze in the sky above San Francisco on Tuesday morning. The haze is caused by the poor air quality brought about by the California fires nearest to the SF Bay Area, including the Bear Fire in Butte County | via @balitangamerica pic.twitter.com/YxdRKVG4Fm
— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) September 10, 2020
Strange and foreboding orange skies and a layer of falling ash greeted Bay Area residents as they woke on Wednesday, rubbing their eyes and wondering if they’d awoken on a different planet — and pondering just how long the daylight dimness would last. https://t.co/VoXXF6FMw1 pic.twitter.com/KdbcD099PF
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) September 9, 2020
Scenes from around San Francisco where dark orange skies are still blanketing the city and region.
This apocalyptic hue is due to a combination of smoke from various wildfires sitting above the marine fog layer. More here on @sfchronicle https://t.co/eChDMsLZLs pic.twitter.com/VaQlNsML0y
— Jessica Christian (@jachristian) September 9, 2020
Do videos count too @EricaJoy ? I shot this with my drone this morning. pic.twitter.com/hDgdp8CIbq
— Jarami Bond (@jarami_bond) September 9, 2020
I heard about this all day… but to see these images is unbelievable. 🙏🏽praying for us 🙏🏽 #California's Bay Area wakes up to disorienting orange skies https://t.co/gihBAwQxE5
— angela palmieri (@APtweets) September 10, 2020
Put them side by side. Pretty crazy they are both day time shots. pic.twitter.com/HIfoUCK0D1
— 🍒 𝔾𝕚𝕟 ℝ𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕪 (@mangotable) September 9, 2020
Tf going on in California pic.twitter.com/hQUHJFtavz
— Refleks (@Refleks) September 10, 2020
Blade runner vs California RN pic.twitter.com/bYYah86RBG
— Unapologetically__black (@SirMatola) September 10, 2020
San Francisco: 10am. Simply. Bizarre. “Smoke particles scatter blue light & only allow yellow-orange-red light to reach the surface, causing skies to look orange.” – Air Quality District (video from @LombardiHimself) @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/HZgVFvBLbk
— Raj Mathai (@rajmathai) September 9, 2020
Absolutely no filter involved here. This is the morning sky over San Francisco at 8am. Orange, dark and ashy bc of wildfires. I was two days away from my 8th birthday when Mt. St. Helens shook the planet. I’m from Seattle-Tacoma and i remember the sky looked just like this. pic.twitter.com/zgOkT2Ou5f
— Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) September 9, 2020
for those who know a bit about photography. all photos take with 4300 white balance (5600 is considered daylight) and no color editing has been done to these pic.twitter.com/nZL48LzRHY
— V (@vjeranpavic) September 9, 2020
This was the sky tonight in California. There’s no filter on this photo. This is earth in 2020. This is not good. pic.twitter.com/0f6rVgBVlf
— Ian Bassin (@ianbassin) September 9, 2020
San Francisco 09.09.20 pic.twitter.com/QdqUtKiqOT
— Zneha (@mithrilmaker) September 9, 2020
Some shots of the apocalyptic orange sky that I captured on my walk with the pup this morning. #shotoniphone pic.twitter.com/J5mHVdp4cS
— Daniel Cohen (@cohen) September 9, 2020
Experts opined that the conditions might remain the same for the next couple of days as wildfires continue to burn in California. Air quality has also reportedly dropped in the vicinity.
Hope the authorities are taking sufficient measures to tackle this crisis.