Programming Note: Smoke Gets In …
Sorry for the dearth of posts this month. I have been kept indoors even more than usual by smoke from the Lateral West wildfire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The fire is now burning about 6000 acres (2400 ha) of tinder-dry scrub forest and swampy peat substrate only 17 miles (27 km) from my home.
The photo above shows the view from my window this morning, when winds from the south brought in another suffocating wave of smoke. Refuge managers report that the fire could smoulder in the peat for months; only a tropical storm or northeaster will produce enough rain to extinguish the fire completely.
