La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Something felt odd being outdoors Friday. The hazy heat was tempered mid-afternoon by a sky turned gray with smoke from distant wildfires. That tilted the day away from a typical end of summer northern Puget sound experience. And consider, we would have faced a hotter day if the smoke had not blocked the sun's rays.

How quickly human induced climate change changes the weather. Thursday the forecast was for highs in the 80s and maybe reaching 90 degrees. At 11:15 a.m. Saturday I was switching to jeans and a long sleeve shirt as smoke created overcast cooked temperatures down to the 50s. The...