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PHOTOS: Smoke, wind turn Penticton's summer upside down

It's a windy, severely smoky Sunday in Penticton. Substantially smokier in fact than the vast majority of time the Christie Mountain wildfire threatened the city a few weeks ago.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

And you can blame the wind for the influx of smoke. With gargantuan wildfires gobbling up much of the US west coast and southerly wind gusts nearing 50 km/h, there's little wonder conditions have deteriorated as they have.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

And today, there was no escape. Up on Munson Mountain, where the wind hit you hard enough to impede your progress, the typically stunning views were turned to mush.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

From the KVR Trail, even the northern edge of the city was barely visible.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

At the Okanagan Lake waterfront, the SS Sicamous to the west was virtually obscured.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

On Main Street, it was hard to remember that, beyond the smoke, this was a sunny day.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

But even amongst all the visibility and breathing issues, there were signs of late summer normalcy. Back at Okanagan Lake, Deven and Dani from Red Deer, Alberta, tried their hands at paddleboarding. It clearly wasn't their first time.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

Simultaneously at Skaha Lake's Sudbury Beach, local windsurfers went wild.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

There were at least a couple dozen of them out there, and most were going at it full bore.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

Smoke or no smoke, the wind was strong, the water remained warm, and the boards were flying.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

A couple of kilometers to the east at Penticton Airport, an impressively large Lockheed L-188 Electra air tanker owned by Edmonton's Air Spray, Ltd. sat on the tarmac, bathed in haze, awaiting its next action.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

Indeed, Deven - the dude on the paddleboard - is the aircraft maintenance engineer for that very plane.

According to Environment Canada, the smoke is likely to stick around through the night and into tomorrow. Take it easy out there.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>



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