Days of Schmutz und Schtink

And it's not a "dry" Schmutz und Schtink

22-Jul-05. It's summer. As I write this on Friday evening, it is 112°F — more or less — with relative humidity around 15%. That may sound awful, but it is actually much, much better than it was earlier in the week. On Wednesday, the temperature was equally high, but the relative humidity was around 45%, and the wind was from the southeast.

Check the map: southeast of Palm Springs lies the Salton Sea. Let me put this plainly: the Salton Sea stinks. It is below sea level; water flows in, but never out; and over time it has become more and more salty.

Put it all together and you can get the picture. The air was positively fetid, and there was so much smog in the air that the mountains simply disappeared from view. In contrast to my normal pristine views to the south and southwest, there was gray and more gray. Yuck!

South view Wednesday, 20-Jul-05, 8:30am

Southwest view toward mountains Wednesday, 20-Jul-05, 8:30am