The ultimate BBQ

[wtg]

Air quality index over 200 here today. Going to be in the 90s temp-wise. Smells like every house in the neighborhood is having a barbecue party.

[Axtremus]

Blame Canada?
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/weather/heat-dome-wildfire-smoke-minnesota-canada-nyc.html

Link to video

[jon-nyc]

I had a 50mi ride planned for today, my 10th anniversary of my transplant. Alas, I’m putting it off until tomorrow because of Canadian fires.

[wtg]

Wow. Hard to believe it's been 10 years. Wishing you many more.

Oh, and good move on postponing the bike ride.....

[wtg]

The monitor in Pleasant Prairie, WI, which is about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, is reading 446.

Ours is climbing, now at 225.

[wtg]

[Rontuner]

254 showing for downtown - pretty thick out there!

[wtg]

Just ran over to the library and the grocery store. Wasn't outside but 10 minutes total but can feel the burning in my throat.

I think I know why.

[wtg]

549, no signs of letting up.

@dolmansaxlil - how bad is it up by you?

[Rontuner]

Up to 385 now from the sensor not far from us. Thanks for posting the picture that allowed me to find the airnow.gov site

[wtg]

This one station that's nearby is reading crazy high; others are more in the 350-450 range. Not sure what's going on.

Regardless, it's wicked miserable out there.

[wtg]

@Rontuner said:

Up to 385 now from the sensor not far from us. Thanks for posting the picture that allowed me to find the airnow.gov site

There's another site, too, IQAir. That crazy reading is in Northbrook (it's up to 860 now) and the sensor is an Illinois EPA device.

https://www.iqair.com/profile/illinois-epa

[RealPlayer]

It’s 158 here. Grey skies but I don’t smell smoke. You feel something’s off though, an “ugh” sensation being outdoors.

With better air, I’d be on my bike. I hate not riding in otherwise nice weather.

[Axtremus]

I had planned exercise.
Canada gave me a good excuse to procrastinate.
May I check the air quality index again tomorrow and see what happens.

[Axtremus]

Today's AQI is even higher than yesterday's!

[Rontuner]

thank you Canada for trying to smudge the evil out of the US.... (seen today)

[Mik]

In Iowa this weekend. 30 here, clear blue skies.

The state is surprisingly pretty, kind of like south central Wisconsin, gently rolling. I expected it to be more like central Illinois.

We had severe flash floods in Cincinnati yesterday! That has not happened in the 42 years I’ve lived there.

[Steve Miller]

I’m at a music festival in central Ohio.

Yesterday the smoke was thick and you could smell the fire. Then a rainstorm came through and washed away the smoke.

Then the rainstorm turned in to a lightning storm and they stopped the music and told everybody to take cover as people sitting in metal chairs under a metal framed portable canopy wasn’t a great idea during a lightning storm and they wereconcerned for their sound equipment.

Then they moved the whole deal in to a big exhibition building here at the fairgrounds. That worked fine.

More storms forecast for this afternoon.

[Mik]

That was one great thing about SoCal. It wasn’t going to rain from March to November or do. It just wasn’t.

[jon-nyc]

We’re supposed to get that rain today