When The Skies Went Dark At Noon, Sept. 1950

Haze from the Canadian Wildfires, in 2023, as seen from the Cemetery in Watsontown Pa

On  June 6th 2023, the haze from the Canadian Wildfires blanketed the Susquehanna Valley.  More than the haze, the strong smell of smoke was disconcerting, to say the least.  My friend Kay Derr, of Danville [and the author of Behind Shooters Bar] asked if anyone remembered when the Canadian wild fires of 1950 caused the skies to go dark in the middle of the day.  1950 was a little before my time, but I was able to find the news reports from that day. 

 

It wasn't actually noon, not in our area.  It was actually closer to 4pm, on 

 Sunday September 24th 1950, as dark shadows darkened the skies.   According to the Sunbury Daily Item, " As the black clouds moved southeast at a rate later determined between 35 and 40 miles an hour, and no rain fell and there as no thunder or lightening, speculation became rife on the cause of the darkness, which was almost as deep as the middle of the night." 

Malcom Arter, on duty at local radio station WKOK, was inundated by calls from frightened residents, who worried that there had been an atom bomb attack somewhere in the vicinity.

"Actually, it was a 200 mile wide blanket of smoke from the forest fires in Northern Alberta and Manitoba provinces of Canada."  The smoke drifted across the Canadian border like a gigantic shroud, and most of Pennsylvania was plunged into darkness by the phenomenon.

The Kane republican described in detail:

"The clouds moved normally excepting for the unusual slowness.  In a half house, teh sky in general had a yellow cast with the ground refection a similar tone.   The yellow tones darkened gradually as a heavy layer of clouds covered the skies with an eerie twilight coming from the golden hued horizon on the east.  Total darkness came soon..."

The smoke, carried from the smoldering forest fires in Norther Alberta and District of Mackenzie in Canada,  moved in over the area from the Great Lakes, eastward to the seaboard and as far south as the Ohio Valley.

It made so many places dark that streetlights were turned on early, Cleveland and Pittsburgh afternoon baseball games, as well as the  Pittsburgh-Detroit football game,  were played under floodlights.

"Towns looked deserted although here and there adults gathered in neighborhood groups to look at the skies and wonder what was happening."  Most children were kept indoors.  Police in most communities ordered the street lights to be put on early, and motorists moved at a snails pace.

In Pittsburgh, the Cincinnati doubleheader at Forbes Field was played under lights, even though it was an afternoon game.

An airline pilot flying over Erie reported that he had to use instruments due to the smoke.

In Tyrone Pa, 65 year old Noah L. Richardson was struck and killed by an automobile, who could not see him crossing in the afternoon darkness.

The director of the Fels Planetarium in Philadelphia called the phenomenon unique, saying that "any kind of particles in the sky - dust, smoke or ice - can cause a change in the coloration of the sun, as well as the sky itself" but he had never heard nor seen of "such a sun as was evident in the state yesterday"

Observers reported the color of the sky ranged from pale yellow to brilliant aquamarine, to bright lavender.  In Lock Haven, some thought an expected eclipse of the sun had come a day early.

The Kane Republican reported "The condition was an exact repetition of a blackout occurring in 1780 and repeated on a lesser scale at least a few times in the past century."

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In 2023

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From the Watsontown Cemetery, 2023

"Some 414 fires were burning in Canada as of Tuesday evening including 239 considered "out of control," according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. The country is experiencing one of the worst starts to its wildfire season ever recorded. More than 6.7 million acres in the country have already burned in 2023, federal officials said last week."

From the Watsontown Cemetery, 2023

The smoke from those fires has made it to our area, and may last through Wednesday.  In Hughesville it was strong earlier today, but here in Watsontown, I was outside most of the day & didn't really notice it.  Then I went inside for two meetings, and when I came back outside at 8pm, it was startling.  The smell was strong, as if we were standing very near to the fires location.

Haze over the alfalfa field on our farm, outside of Watsontown

Haze over the alfalfa field on our farm, outside of Watsontown