San Francisco and other parts of the west coast of the United States woke up to dark orange skies on Wednesday to smoke from the fires that continue to ravage California.
The mixture of fog and smoke gave the city a surreal feel as if the sun had not risen all day.
Walking through the streets of San Francisco around noon - headlights on - you could see locals working on their computers by the light of their lamps, to see clearly in the glowing darkness.
“The orange sky is due to smoke from forest fires in the air,” the San Francisco Bay Air Pollution Control Agency tweeted.
"These smoke particles scatter blue light and only allow yellow, orange and red rays to reach the surface, giving the sky that orange color."
More than two dozen fires raged across California, and nearly a thousand firefighters battled the blaze dubbed Creek Fire in the upstate Fresno area, which spread to more than 56 000 hectares.
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On social networks, users competed in terror and humor, with references to scenes from apocalyptic films or jokes about the year 2020, decidedly synonymous with disasters, even for a region accustomed to earthquakes and fires.
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