Hot Today in Mt. Shasta

It's supposed to be 99 degrees Fahrenheit today in Mt. Shasta and 108 degrees in Redding. So, along with the smoke likely it is actually cooler than it would have been otherwise both places. We noticed the water wasn't as warm as it was in June (which is very historical unusual for June to be warm enough to swim in Castle lake) but the lake didn't even freeze solid the last two years (which is historically amazing) because this hasn't happened except in the last two years for as long as I can remember.

The lake yesterday was nice and warm enough to swim in if you wanted to and I saw many people doing this including me at the back side of the lake. However, most of the time I was very happy to lay back on the borrowed Sevylor inflatable kayak while my friend paddled around talking to people he knew that were up at the lake to get cool away from the heat. Because like most places in Northern California in the mountains or on the oceans people mostly don't have air conditioners much except in Hotels. In the mountains heating is the problems because of cold weather when it can snow any time from about October to May or June.

I have been caught in freak snow storms at 10,000 feet on the mountain with my family in the 1980s in August even
and barely kept from everyone getting hypothermia because we were all only in t-shirst, shorts and hiking boots when the freak snowstorm hit. We slipped and skidded over the rocks to our truck before we could don warmer clothes on and turn the heater on in our 4 wheel drive.

Also, even though you don't smell the smoke much and just see it in the air between you and the surrounding mountains, at night often it will give you a slightly runny nose and during the night a sore throat from having smoke in the air. But, it doesn't burn your nose or eyes at all because it is not thick enough for that because it is blowing over the mountains from over 50 miles as the crow flies away from at least 5 fires in the Trinity mountains.

My friend told me already 160 square miles have burned just in the Trinity Alps fires here in California.