The Horizon has been Defeated...

Flying to Atlanta - adding to the pollution.

Jack Johnson had it right. Fifteen years ago, I got a bit of private pilot training in the Chicago area. Most days the atmosphere was clear enough to see the Chicago skyline and even into Wisconsin 70 air miles away. In the past fifteen years, I feel the atmospheric quality has declined and the "view" in the sky is decreased due to pollution. When I flew into Chicago on Saturday, I could see the silhouetted skyline through the murky air 20 miles away.

In 2001 I lived in Shanghai China. For six months, I never saw blue sky and some days the air quality was so poor the visibility was three blocks. How long will it be before this type of air quality pervades the states?

This is Shanghai. When will it's pollution "blow" our way?

Shanghai skyline.

Tourist photos of Shanghai are so heavily photoshopped. Blue sky does NOT exist there no matter what the weather.

Wasabi in front of the same skyline.

Last winter skiing, there were two or three days of "unlimited" 100 mile visibility. Most days in Utah the visibility is good, exponentially better than China, and maybe the way Chicago used to be.

What will the visibility be like in a couple of generations? I'm doubtful there will be 100 mile visibility days where you can see distant mountain ranges stacked up to the horizon.