NAPA, Calif. — If it were not for the thick blanket of smoke hanging low in the cloudy afternoon sky, there would be no way to tell that anything was amiss in downtown Napa on Saturday. “It’s starting to feel like business as usual,” said Hilary Olsen, who was eating lunch with a friend in nearby Yountville. “We almost check fires this time of year like people check tides to go surfing.”Higher temperatures, winds and lightning strikes that could spark new wildfires were expected on Sunday in an already dry Northern California. Firefighters made some progress on Saturday, with cooler temperatures and humidity, but Sunday’s weather threatened to erase it. Officials told residents in at-risk areas, like Santa Cruz, on the coast, to prepare to flee at any moment with “go bags.”

Source: New York Times August 23, 2020 16:18 UTC