...AIR STAGNATION ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM MST
FRIDAY...
* WHAT...An extended period of stagnant air, with light winds
and little vertical mixing.
* WHERE...Portions of south central, southwest and west central
Idaho and northeast and southeast Oregon.
* WHEN...Until 1 PM MST Friday, and this time may be extended.
* IMPACTS...Periods of air stagnation can lead to the buildup of
pollutants near the surface.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Winds will be strong enough today,
Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons in portions of the Upper
Treasure Valley and Western Magic Valley to limit stagnation.
However, parts of the zones will experience stagnant air and
were therefore included in this advisory.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
An Air Stagnation Advisory concerns itself with meteorological
conditions only. For more information on air pollution in Idaho,
visit website www.deq.idaho.gov. For Oregon, visit website
www.oregon.gov/deq.
If possible, reduce or eliminate activities that contribute to
air pollution, such as outdoor burning, and the use of
residential wood burning devices. Reduce vehicle trips and
vehicle idling as much as possible.
&&
As we get ready to move into 2023, I want to talk about a dream I had last night. We don’t talk about our dreams much, at least not in passing. But I want to talk about this one. Because it took me back almost three years. Do you realize it’s been nearly three years since we entered into the pandemic? Since we became aware of, and then all too familiar with, the virus we first called the coronavirus? (I don’t want the ‘rona.) As those first few months of 2020 crept over us, we had no idea that soon we would be in the grip of a worldwide nightmare, living daily with a fear we’d never imagined.
In my dream, we were right back there. I woke up with that fear on me all over again, that fear that has slowly dissipated over nearly three years. I awoke in night-sweat confusion, what year is this, didn’t we come through the pandemic, don’t we have vaccines now, isn’t it all over, like a collective bad dream?
Well, yes … and no. While it’s true we have vaccines, only a fraction of us are, as we now say, ‘vaxxed to the max.’ And COVID — how we now call the virus, first officially named SARS-CoV-2, then christened COVID-19 after the year in which it sprang up — is still very much alive and well and killing thousands of people every day, thank you very much. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know or haven’t already read — recent news from China is chillingly reminiscent of that fateful three years ago — although if you’ve been like me, you haven’t gone too far past the Twitter headlines. Too soon. Please just let this be over so we can get back to living our best lives.
So where do we go from here? We go the only way we can. We go forward. We go forward hopefully armed with the knowledge we’ve gained from the past three years. Learning, yes, we’re still learning how to live with the virus. Maybe, just maybe, we will try to make those other wrongs into rights. And who knows? Maybe Elon will find a way to whisk us all to Mars (better if he worked on that than to keep messing with Twitter, am I right?). Maybe we’ll start passing meaningful gun laws. Maybe we’ll take The Golden Rule to heart. Maybe that elusive beauty, world peace, will get sprinkled on all of humanity across the globe like magic pixie dust and we’ll all hold hands and sing kumbaya.
Sigh. And sigh. And sigh.
The point is, we really don’t know what’s ahead of us, what cornucopia of funhouse treats are in store for us in the coming year — but let’s not go in blind.
We see you, 2023. Deep breath. Open eyes. Step in.
(Wake up, Jeanne. You’ve already hit ‘snooze’ eight times.)
Happy New Year, everybody. Let the games begin.
Oh, and one thing to look forward to for sure: Boise Weekly can now be delivered right to your door for a pocketful of change. Sign up now at boiseweekly.com. Limited delivery area.
