Boston and Interplanetary Smoke

Here in New England, we got some serious smoke from the Canadian wildfires. How does it compare to other places? Interplanetary Smoke On 2026-Jul-15, smoke from some extensive Canadian wildfires blew down into the US, creating some surreal atmospheric color. (Also surreal: Trump, being an idiot, decided it was because Canadians didn’t properly rake leaves in their forests, and vowed to impose 50% punitive tariffs.) Californians are used to such things, but in New England that much smoke is very much a bizarre and different experience. The sky took on a deep color, and the mid-afternoon light was an ominous, lowering yellow like a hurricane was about to pass through. Not weather, just smoke. For us, thankfully, it was mostly in the upper atmosphere and not down here on the ground. This photo was taken by the Weekend Editrix in late afternoon. It shows the sun as a glaring red star, almost like we’re all suddenly in a Darkover novel. Darkover novels are no longer au courant in F/SF…