This week’s anticipated smoke intrusion in the Bay Area may not be accompanied by the pungent campfire scent. That’s because of atmospheric chemical reactions that change the molecular makeup of smoke particles: It makes the plume more toxic as it ages, but removes the smoky scent.

Northern California air quality may soon get hit by smoke coming from out-of-state fires

Fires burning millions of acres in Oregon and Washington state are sending smoke across the West.

sfchronicle.com

I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.

Flower of Life https://www.wikiart.org/en/georgia-o-keeffe/flower-of-life

My thoughts are with those escaping this terrifying situation, along with those impacted by all of the other fires burning right now.

Daniel Swain@weatherwest.bsky.social · 4d ago

A dangerous wind shift (visible on radar imagery) has just occurred in #Spokane, WA, where major wildfire disaster is currently unfolding. Three separate major fires (circled) near or within city limits have already caused major structure loss & chaotic, expanding evacs. #WAwx

I just keep thinking about all of those guys who have been convening at the Bohemian Grove over the past month, squarely in the middle of the purplest brownest air. I wonder if any of them contemplated the future of our planet.

Anthony Edwards@edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 6d ago

Sonoma County air quality is poor as smoke from the Woodside Fire pushes in www.sfchronicle.com/projects/cal...

If the latest FIRIS perimeter for #WoodsideFire is accurate, this would be one of the stranger fire footprints & trajectories I've seen. Under strong NWly winds parallel to coastline, it appears fire has spotted *over oceanic coves* & into downwind forest...twice!! Whoa.

Smoke from the Woodside Fire drifts in waves over Bodega Marine Reserve @ucdavis.bsky.social and Bodega Harbor.

New start of #Woodside Fire near us visible on this already!

Daniel Swain@weatherwest.bsky.social · 6d ago

Remarkable amount of fire on the ground, and smoke in the air, this evening. In this satellite snapshot, numerous large fires (red thermal detections) and smoke plumes stretch from Great Basin northward into British Columbia; fire weather conditions will worsen this weekend.

Folks it’s busy! A very amplified weather pattern brings the planet’s biggest heat dome to the US West, while forcing very stormy weather to Florida and the #Gulf Coast, #smoke carried 2500 miles from Oregon to #Florida, not to mention unprecedented fires in #Europe!

Hi folks, the BU Marine Program is hiring! As the Associate Director of this program I am happy to answer any and all questions! Please share widely! jobs.silkroad.com/BU/External/...

My next 'climate viz of the month' blog is posted: zacklabe.com/climate-viz-..., which takes a look at the effects of different regional warming when calculating the global temperature anomaly record, along with a June update for Arctic climate. #DataViz #SciComm #OpenScience #OpenData

Climate Viz of the Month

June 2026 Hi there! This month’s “climate viz of the month” blog will be a shorter one and takes a look at a pretty simple but often misunderstood concept: how regional warming influences the globa…

zacklabe.com

Back from a great time in the eastern Sierra which of course included dodging wildfires and drift smoke, because that’s just how the summer is these days. Thankful for mountains, lakes, and clear air days. Reminding myself these are all things worth fighting for.

The extraordinary wildfire outbreak across Oregon, eastern Washington, and southern British Columbia has become even more alarming amid critical fire weather conditions. Over 500,000 acres have already burned in OR & WA alone, and that number could be >1 million acres by Mon.

America's R1 universities educate ~8–9 million students (undergraduate + graduate) -> more than 1/3 of U.S. college students (vs. the ~0.6% of Ivies). Undermining this system threatens the institutions that train our workforce and drive scientific innovation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An American research crisis with real human consequences

Ivy League universities have dominated recent news headlines, having become popular targets for critics of higher education. But the threats they face—cuts to federal research funding, assaults on aca...

science.org

Hi Bluesky. I’m officially asking my network for help. It’s been a tough 10 months on the job market, and I am actively seeking policy and policy-adjacent roles in agricultural emissions, greenhouse gas mitigation, air quality, and biotechnology regulation. 🧵

Thanks to Canadian @shiventaneja.bsky.social for developing these instructions. The CR Box has a high clean air delivery rate for particles in the size ranges of wildfire smoke & should remove a large amount of heavier organic gas-phase components. All at a fraction of cost of other air cleaners.

🍁Mel🇨🇦@melhathnofury.bsky.social · 3w ago

Here’s instructions on building your own Corsi-Rosenthal box.

As we like to say in our house: ooof. More atmospheric rivers in CA in a warming climate: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Atlantic meridional overturning circulation slowdown modulates atmospheric rivers in a warmer climate - Nature Communications

Using twenty-first-century climate model projections, this study shows that a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation will increase the frequency of atmospheric rivers in the mid-...

nature.com

We didn't previously integrate wildfire-smoke costs into the supposed cost of climate change for the US, and it turns out to be bigger than all those other costs combined. Oops! Gosh I wonder if we're underestimating anything else. Probably shoulda done something about this. Ah well.

What Worries Me Most About This Wildfire Smoke

We didn’t know days like this could happen. Then we learned how bad they really are.

heatmap.news

Quite a remarkable picture of ocean warmth when looking at last month's sea surface temperature anomalies globally. El Niño of course looks more visible, but there are plenty of other hotspots (including at the map edge, like in the Mediterranean Sea). Data from www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/opt... 🌊

An incredibly comprehensive, detailed and useful site. Make a lower cost DIY air filter: instructions & order parts. Air filters sell out locally near wildfire smoke, but their suppliers ship from TX to get around local shortages cleanaircrew.org/how-to-clean...

With all the July model runs now in, it is very likely that 2026 will see the largest El Niño event since records began in the late 1800s – and potentially by a truly mind-blowing margin. The median estimate is now 3.6C, roughly 0.8C hotter than the prior record (2.75C). www.theclimatebrink....

This is a really useful post about what you need to know about Cyclospora. I learned things. You will too

Explosive foodborne outbreak

It's a real shit show out there: What we know, don't know, and what it means for you.

yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com

I remember attending a conference in ~2004 discussing the models that predicted this outcome, and the societal and scientific implications. It was hard to wrap my head around then that this was the trajectory we were on.

Zack Labe@zacklabe.com · 3w ago

Loss of July #Arctic sea ice thickness averaged by decade... 📉 More info on data: climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data...

Tomorrow is the deadline for submitting a comment to stop the administration from dismantling U.S. science. There are nearly 280,000 public comments filed so far! But! Do not assume they are all, or even most, against the proposal. This is a key pillar of Project 2029 - wind down federal R&D.

Costa Samaras@costasamaras.com · 4w ago

Here’s a great resource to help write a comment this weekend before the deadline, by @colesci.bsky.social and @cdelawalla.bsky.social: www.standupforscience.foundation/policy-and-a...

Comments are open until Monday. This is important! Info in thread.

Tessa Hill@tessahill.bsky.social · 4w ago

If you are drafting your public comment to submit on the OMB rule change - this thread is for you. And if you haven’t started yet, that’s ok! This thread is also for you. Do you appreciate innovation in health, transportation, energy, and a wide range of other disciplines? It’s time to speak up.

Think. About. This. The U.S. Treasury receives the revenue from most of Venezuela’s exports, then disburses it gradually to Venezuela through the country’s private banks…. Mr. Rubio and his team set the conditions on what that money can be spent on, and by whom. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/u...

How Marco Rubio is Running Venezuela From Afar

The secretary of state effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources and its government. His grip on the country is a vivid manifestation of American power in th...

nytimes.com

This guy is now in charge of the US National Climate Assessment

If you are drafting your public comment to submit on the OMB rule change - this thread is for you. And if you haven’t started yet, that’s ok! This thread is also for you. Do you appreciate innovation in health, transportation, energy, and a wide range of other disciplines? It’s time to speak up.

Bethany Brookshire@beebrookshire.bsky.social · 4w ago

There's an OMB rule change that would require political oversight of scientific grants, and could pull any that don't "reflect presidential priorities" Another country has tried this before! It was the USSR and it was called Lysenkoism. By @thsaey.bsky.social www.sciencenews.org/article/omb-...

New: The National Science Foundation is preparing to claw back some $500 million in funds from some of its core science programs in physics, math, computer science, and engineering in order to fund a project from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

NSF plans cuts to core science programmes to fund White House initiative

A proposed clawback of already distributed research funds comes as the US agency’s budget is already squeezed and it struggling to clear a backlog of grant applications.

nature.com

El Niño continues to grow, with sea surface temperatures clearly at record high levels for the time of year... 📈 Sign up for our next monthly briefing to learn more, including Q/A: climatecentral-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi.... We'll also have an update on 2026's U.S. billion-dollar disasters so far.