Current conditions - 28 degrees, smoke

This was the slightly alarming summary on the Weather Network for Courtenay yesterday afternoon.

Apparently "smoke" is an officially-recognised weather condition, something which we'd not heard of until yesterday. But the summary was spot on. The thin haze spreading across the sky was not water vapour, but smoke from the many wildfires burning in mainland BC this summer.

By late afternoon, the sun, still high in the sky, was blood red. When we walked Gypsy along the beach the headlands on either side were almost lost in haze, like a sea mist apart from the unmistakable whiff of woodsmoke.

Another "first" for us ignorant immigrants this vacation.