Cameras are weird. My eyes saw this as a bright and deep red/orange and yet even with several tries the camera saw it as white. The deep red is much more dramatic and interesting, but.... what can you do? Other than long for the control I used to have with my film cameras.
However. While it may be less colorful, I think the photo probably illustrates the smoky skies that show themselves every evening when the sun is setting, blocking out the sun's rays like clouds while turning the sun itself into a pretty cool color (photo not withstanding). White or red/orange, taking an actual photo of the sun like this as an actual round star is ordinarily not possible. The sheer brilliance of this light doesn't allow it.
Fortunately, we don't have big fires nearby this year, yet, although there are something like 16 'large' fires burning across the state. Last summer our air was almost unbreathable (in the dangerous category) and while we had fires in northern Oregon, weather phenomena was bringing the smoke from a huge fire in southern Oregon, near Brookings, up here into the valley. I haven't seen any reports one way or the other, but I'm guessing a lot of this smoke is also being blown from the south -- from the huge fires near Redding and just north of Napa Valley around Clearlake.
Note: A day later, a video on Twitter from NWS that shows exactly how the smoke is traveling up the I-5 corridor and into Canada.
These fires don't have quite the emotional impact for me personally that the Napa/Sonoma fires had last fall, but I couldn't begin to count the times I've driven to/from the Bay Area from Oregon since 1996, and Redding is usually a pit stop. First city of any size, first one out of the mountains. Time for gas and/or food. And my last trip to Sonoma, in April, took me through the Clearlake area that is now burning. Alas.
When will it be our turn again? Hard to say. We've had a couple already, early in the season, and there will undoubtedly be more.
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