ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

thanks for doing that. do you know what the different colors are? just curious.
Just looked at airnow.gov and we're at 120 particulate matter here and this warning is posted:
August 17: Smoke Advisory for Ventura County, CA
The smoke plume from the Zaca wildfire is over most of Ventura County and has fumigated into the Ojai Valley overnight. Air Quality in the Ojai Valley is forecast to be at unhealthy levels for today and tomorrow. Smoke and ash will intermittently be present throughout the county for the next several days. The smoke and ash may be smelled and observed, especially during the late evening to morning hours...

thanks for the airnow.gov update...i was just today wondering if we had any quantifiable measure for just how bad the air quality is!

as of an hour ago (3pm friday the 17th) the index is at 104ppm...down from the 120 reported earlier, but still "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups". do "All Humans" count as a "Sensitive Group"? ;)

Kate, the GeoMac USGS site is sluggish & quirkish ... can only guess right now as to the color-coded circles ... IFR plume temperature, or density ... also could be age of the plume, i.e., the black ones are more than 12 or 24 hrs old?

also this to report -- from Casitas HeliBase -- first two chopper loads of fire retardant just went out of here -- in beautiful new golden yellow-orange chopper --

considering all the partying going-on here of late, I can only assume they were carrying piss, or beer ...

Nice microsoft paint job

Nice microsoft paint job

thanks ... the layers were actually cobbled together in PhotoShop.

and Tyler, nice to hear the news that the Fuel Break at Matilija Canyon held.

and latest report from the Casitas HeliBase -- eight Helicoptor Tanker missions were flown from here today. they take off and land right outside our kitchen window, in the adjacent meadow -- so we hope they get a break for the night, that Megumi and I won't have to wear earplugs.