For several days now, Albuquerque has been blanketed with a thick layer of smoke originating from the massive fires in Arizona.  The city has been on health alert, and hospitals have seen a jump in respiratory-related visits. The smell of burning wood is much like the smell of a campfire and has permeated our both sinuses and homes.  The ash is leaving a light layer both inside and out.  Normally, the visibility is literally as far as ones eyes can see – which is to the horizon depending upon the view.  For the past few days, the visibility has dropped to 3 miles and under.  The magnificent Sandia Mountains which border the east end of our city, have completely disappeared under the layer of smoke.

Amidst all the health problems arising from the smoke, the light filtering has created some magnificent photo opportunities.  Please remember that in all these pictures, there are no clouds in the sky – which is normal for Albuquerque.  All that you see is smoke…

The first picture was taken by me from my backyard tonight at approximately 7:15 PM.  The sun was not due to set until 8:20.  I did not use any filters, no special settings, nor was this touched up in Photoshop.  The red coloring is from the smoke layer filtering out certain color wavelengths.  Which is also the reason for the various colors in the rest of the images.  The video above was also taken at the same time, same place.

And here is a picture taken today, June 7th, 2011,  in Arizona of the smoke from the Wallow Fire…