On Sunday, March 11, a brush fire struck in the Anaheim Hills area. It was controlled relatively quickly, and by the next morning, the smoke had settled into a blanket of haze over Orange County.
For contrast, here’s a shot from a few weeks earlier (February 23), when it was unusually clear. This was taken from a park in the Quail Hill area of Irvine, looking across the Saddleback Valley from the south toward the same range of hills seen on the left of the picture above.
I’m loving that last shot.
Thanks! That was an amazingly clear day, and I just went out on my lunch break, hunting for a spot where I had a clear view and wouldn’t look like I was a total weirdo for taking pictures (since it’s mostly a residential area). I probably still looked silly running around the park.
I set up another shot from that same afternoon as my desktop background.
Things have been a lot hazier lately. I’m not sure even the hills would be visible from that spot today, never mind the mountains. And the mountains had lost their dusting of snow by the time I posted the photo.
[…] nerve-wracking as it was after a few minutes, I’d love to go again on a clear day like this one (second photo) back in February, especially if the wind was low enough that they were willing to […]
[…] Angeles at a distance of ~40 miles (same as the “contrast” shot in last year’s Spring Haze post). And this time, I had a better […]