In mid-August, Pinedale and all of the Upper Green River Valley experienced a severe smoke event late one evening. Within minutes, the air went from clear and beautiful to dense, choking smoke, sending some people to the clinics with breathing difficulties. Even though several wildfires were burning in the area, officials disagreed as to which fire the smoke was coming from. Satellite photographs later revealed the smoke was not from Sublette County fires at all, but rather from smoke from large fires burning in northeast Nevada and southeast Idaho, carried high aloft, which was sent crashing to the ground by downdraft winds from a large thunderstorm over Togwotee Pass north of the county. A night-time cold air inversion kept the smoke trapped in the valley until winds cleared it out the next day. The fire was a classic example of how one smoke incident from wildfires can quickly degrade the air quality in the valley, and just as quickly it can clear with wind and rain. More