Small vertical strips from 142 photographs, exposed every 30 seconds and ending at 8:05:24 pm, make up this photo-montage illustrating the setting of the sun through smoke-filled skies on August 13, 2018.

This image combines 2 photographs taken on consecutive days, August 22 and 23, as the smoke began clearing.

The harvest moon of October 1, 2020 as it rises through the smokey haze. A 1507 second exposure, beginning at 8:48 pm, with camera rotation at 783 seconds.

These four photographs of the sun peering through the smoke were made from 10:30am on September 12 at exposures of 30, 500, 16 and 142 seconds (clockwise from top left).

September 2020 was the hottest September in the 141-year record, breaking the record set in 2019. The last seven years have seen the seven hottest months of September in recorded history. This comes at the end of nine months of wildfires around the globe. Late June’s record temperatures also helped drive September to see Arctic sea ice at its second lowest extent on record. Seen here beginning noticeably on the 12th day of the month, smoke from the wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington reached us here in Victoria, Canada resulting in some of the worst air quality on the planet.

A small slice of each of 130 consecutive exposures, made from 7:18:37am at 10 second intervals on August 13, were compiled to illustrate the ascension of the sun during this record-breaking wildfire season.

On August 20, 2018, these 70 exposures illustrate the descent of the sun, at 30 second intervals beginning at 07:21:48 pm Pacific Daylight Time, as it shines through the heavy wildfire smoke.

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