Whoa - today was quite the day. We obliterated the record high for August 16th. The old record was 74 degrees set in 1984. Today's high was 84 degrees. And let me tell you, it was hotter than 84 in several parts of town.
But the high temp was only part of the equation - Anchorage spent most of the day in heavy wildfire smoke haze. It's the worst we've seen in several years. I haven't seen anything this bad since I was in Manilla in 1997. My asthma has certainly sat up and taken notice of the less than stellar air quality.
This summer has been the worst forest fire season in Alaska's history. Five million acres have burned - two million of those five million acres are still burning as I type. The Anchorage haze is attributable to a one million acre fire complex up by Tok.
Here's the view from my office early this afternoon:
9:01:44 PM 
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