Smoky Sundown

The fire north of us is being kept contained. Credit is being given to countless firefighters, engines from all over the county, planes and even night vision helicopters. The smoke drifts around on the thermals and sometimes winds up in surprising places depending on wind conditions.
I took this picture our of our bedroom door.

There are many wineries in the area but so far the buildings have all been spared. It is too early to tell how the grapes will fare. Fruit set is usually in May, but I haven't seen any so the fruit must still be quite small. It's really difficult to tell the effect of smoke taint at this early stage. In 2020, several wineries had to drop their crop after smoke from the Glass fire in late September tainted the grapes. Other wineries worked night and day to harvest the grapes early, but that's still a gamble if the Brix (sugar) levels are still low. 

Growing wine grapes is a both a gamble and a science.

We dragged out our air purifier and turned it on but when I downloaded the Purple Air app, it said the pollution level of the air in our neighborhood was quite low. I'm going to have to do some research on the effects of smoke with an air source heat pump since it relies on bringing in outside air. Looking out the same door 12 hours later the sky is blue and there is a gentle breeze.

My Watch duty app, updated an hour ago,  tells me that the fire is now 40% contained. I think I'll sleep better tonight.