Honestly unlike anything ive ever experienced and i lived in Northern California for 36 years. Born and raised in oakland and everything before. Just so strange. I dont understand what is going on. I know there is fire but it doesnt smell super smokey, doesnt seem super ashy. Just really weird. Weird is the word of the day. This was the scene a short time ago driving along interstate 280 near stanford. The saying is red sky at night, well, not this time. And we could rephrase mark twain, too. The darkest night i ever spent was a day in San Francisco. Good evening. Thank you for joining us. That is a good take on the classic. Theres never been a day like this one. On the peninsula take a look. An orange haze in san mateo is one indication of the intensity of the wildfires and smoke in california. Another is the visible ash. You can see it. Cars are coated in it. The smoke layer makes it so dark. Sensor lights are staying on in the middle of the day and crickets were confused and chirping. This is what it looked like from the air. A passenger took these photos from a window seat as his plane was landing at sfo. You can smell smoke in the cabin. Unfortunately we could see outside so it wasnt like engine fire smoke. It was just burning. You could see the ground on that side. You couldnt see it on this side. It was just dark, dark burnt orange. Crazy. Sfo said the air quality did not affect departures or arrivals though. Now well go live to San Francisco where eerie skies gave tourists a rare view of the citys sights in a very unique way. Reporter right. My husband this morning would not believe me when i told him it was 6 00. He insisted it must be 3 00 in the morning, dan. I went around San Francisco asking people how they felt about all of this and everyone agreed that 2020 has a lousy year. Some of you may have wondered if this is the day the earth stood still. There were many words to describe what we were experiencing. I think it is really insane. The zombie apocalypse. We opened the curtains and it seemed to be night time. It was scary. Fishermans wharf looked like something out of a novel. I think it is magical. What do you think . Pretty amazing to be here for Something Like this. Humans werent the only ones confused. I think in the morning he was confused and he woke up. I think he just went back to bed thinking it was still night time. Even the mayor felt it was necessary to reach out to san francisans through social media explaining how the combination of fog and smoke from wildfires was creating the orange sky. Then came a Public Service announcement. It hasnt really impacted our air quality yet because of our marine layer and because the smoke is so high. Construction workers used lights this morning to work in the dark. In any given afternoon johns grill in San Francisco is packed with customers having lunch. But the darkness kept them away. I have never seen Something Like this in my life. It is quite frightening. I hope everyone is safe. I hope everyone keeps safe. Todays anomaly served as a reminder of what is going on in parts of the state. I feel bad for the people who are like right in the heart of it right now because this looks terrible but imagine if youre there. Thats right. A good reminder of what people near the fires are going through. I have to confess, you know, my internal clock is really messed up right now and i assure you that tomorrow well be doing stories on how people had a hard time falling asleep tonight. Stay tuned. Im live in San Francisco, abc 7 news. Thank you. Out of town visitors to the Golden Gate Bridge came to see the structures Famous International orange color today. What they got was out of this world orange. More martian than international. Abc 7 News ReporterWayne Freedman joins us live from vista point. How does it look now . Reporter well, you see how it looks. You can see a little bit right now. Just a little bit. Would you believe it, it looks pretty good right now compared to the way it was earlier. At midday it looked like midnight and with all of the sun gone it was cold. It felt like midnight. All across the bay today people have been in shock. This will go down as the red flag fire danger day that happened in a way we never expected. It feels like the world is ending. Reporter a silhouetted world of black against orange that would do halloween proud though this came way too early and is certainly much more frightening. It is as if the bay area woke up this morning disoriented and wandering through an extension novel come to life. I mean, this is very surreal and kind of cool. Thinking about whats the cause of it smoke from fires and ashes everywhere. The marine layer and producing a day with no light in between. What time would you say it was . Probably 9 00 p. M. Reporter here is how San Francisco looked from across the bay. Air so thick and dirty that it rendered the Golden Gate Bridge topless. At vista point tourists got a show though they could hardly see the bridge at all. We are in the final days of the dinosaurs wake the up people i thought this was normal. No. Reporter but it is new. A kodak moment in a digital age and a crazy year seemingly running amok. What a long, strange trip its become. What are we going to wake up to tomorrow . Listen closely. We might hear swarms of locusts. Reporter in short, it was a singular day, an historic day, a memorable day. One woman at the bridge said earlier she compares it with the loma prieta earthquake, that high in her memory and that memorable. Live from vista point, Wayne Freedman, abc 7 news. I think thats about right, wayne. Here is another look at todays conditions for you. A time lapse of the San Francisco skyline from our camera at the exploritorium. This was between 11 30 and 12 30. Now lets get the extra word on these conditions from our meteorologist. This is really like were on a different planet. It feels like were on mars. Let me explain what is going on from the visible satellite perspective. You can see the thick blanket of smoke from the fire that exploded overnight into our area. We have the fog layer down below like a layered cake. You have the smoke layer. As we take a look at a closer view you can see just how bad the smoke is coming down across the region here and really when you look at a live picture from our sfo camera you can see how orange it is. Wind is part of the problem. The surface winds are calm or very light so the smoke is staying in the upper layers of the atmosphere and why the air quality is not being impacted. We have gustier winds over the higher elevations. Mount diablo 30 miles an hour, mount tam 20 miles an hour. The problem is we are surrounded by fires in the state of california so no matter which direction the winds are blowing from, there are impacts in the form of smoke. Amazing. Thanks for the explanation. All so strange. People in the east bay couldnt believe what they saw and woke up to. You probably couldnt either. Abc 7s news photo journalist talked with some of them about what they were watching. The sky is pretty crazy. I dont know what to say about it. Looks crazy. Never have i seen this. When i woke up this morning and i saw the sky i thought it was night time. I thought it was like 4 00 or 5 00 in the morning i looked at the clock. 8 00 . Its still dark. I dont know what is going on. Who drives with their headlights on at 9 00 in the morning . It is bizarre. Like apocalyptic. Our pool is black from the ash. Dirty, gross. It looks unhappy. What would people in ancient times think . I think theyd think it was the end of the world i believe they would think the world was coming to an end. Just awful. Nerveracking. It really is. It is so dark. Its scary to me. Its concerning because i know it is smoke and par particulates. The sky is important. If it is not lit up stuff gets cold and people start dying. Thats how that goes. My gouirlfriend is going to colorado tomorrow. I wish i were going with her. Ive lived here in california 55 years and, no, i have never, ever seen anything like this. Ive never seen anything like this before. We just havent, right . It is all so strange. Here is what it looked like from the Traffic Cameras this morning. Orange, hazy skies over the bay bridge, toll plaza, san rafael, over the Richmond San Rafael bridge as well, and at sfo. Despite the ominous skies over the bay area baufs the wildfires smoke experts say it is not necessarily unsafe to be we sand my heart fell. Oke i knew wed lose our home. And we did. Over 24,000 homes have been destroyed by wildfires in the past few years. Wildfire victims need help so im voting yes on 19. It limits property taxes on wildfire victims so families can move to a replacement home without a tax penalty. You never know what youll be faced with. Please, vote yes on 19. Check this out. It was raining ash at the hayward airport. Our sky 7 photo journalist found this car coated with a layer of ash. Now, this happens to you, triplea recommends washing your car with warm water, a soft towel, or sponge and soap. Lots of questions of course from everyone about air quality because of what is happening, what were seeing. Reporter as wildfires burn across Northern California, a combination of smoke and haze made for a martian like glow across the bay area sky. It feels like its the end of the world or something is lurking. Something is in the making. A very eerie feeling. Reporter with ash falling from above the darkness of the day could almost be mistaken for an early evening. This mother dawito duo decided to visit santa ana road despite the conditions. Staying indoors makes me crazy so going outside even if it is a quick walk is my outlet to freedom at the moment. Reporter in san jose throughout the day air readings of fine par particulate matter were considered unhealthy for those with breathing or other underlying issues according to the bay area air Quality Management district. Many expected the numbers to be worse. The smoke from the wildfires is being trapped in a layer of air above the air were actually breathing. Reporter this doctor with the center for allergy and Asthma Research at stanford says while the ash may be alarming to see it is actually easier for our bodies to keep out of our systems. It is the smaller particles we may not be able to see that settle that actually get inhaled through our nose and mouth that we worry about causing inflammation or symptoms. Experts say it is important to continue monitoring the aqi and Pay Attention to what your body is telling you. If your nose is running, if youre having breathing symptoms, with labored breathing or chest pain or things like that, that is where, you know, you should seek medical attention. In the south bay, abc 7 news. Now your accu weather forecast. Good evening everyone. I know its been feeling like evening since this morning. Look at the temperature drop, 30degree drop in concord. Double digits at livermore. 24 degrees cooler right now compared to yesterday at this time. Smoke definitely playing a role. Nobody saw this coming. We knew it was going to be cooler but this was a lot cooler. Here is a look at live doppler 7 just a blanket of fog and smoke out there and these oranges. 59 degrees in San Francisco. 64 in mountain view. 66 san jose. Most areas have been in the 50s and 60s this afternoon. San jose camera showing you very murky view right now. 62 in santa rosa. Currently mid 60s in concord. Livermore 70 degrees. Now the air quality across the region looks like this. It is moderate in places like napa right now for poor for sensitive groups. Moderate santa rosa, concord, San Francisco. Smoke layers mainly in the upper part of the atmosphere though you may be feeling it in your eyes and throat here is a look at the air quality around the santa cruz mountains. It is moderate right now. Spare the air extended through friday. Saturday, sunday, expect winds to stir things up a little bit and hopefully that will help out. Certainly not helping tonight. Loo k at view the from our emeryville camera. Lack of strong winds. We are socked in not just with fog but all of that smoke across the region. Fog, haze, and patchy drizzle overnight tonight. Poor air quality again tomorrow. We have the spare the air through friday. A look at the visibility down to three miles in half moon bay. 6 miles in napa. A combination of fog and the smoke. So 5 00 a. M. Tomorrow do expect that fog all the way out across the bay into some of our valleys as well. As we head into the afternoon it pulls back to the coast. The rest of you will be seeing hazy sunshine, fog along the coast, and hazy there as well. That is what you can expect tomorrow morning. Temperatures anywhere from the low 50s to the low 60s as we look at the afternoon. This could be a busted forecast for tomorrow. Ill be very honest with you. Mid to upper 80s inland. Low to upper 60s near the coast line. As you check out the accu weather seven day forecast spare the air alert for poor air quality the next two days expecting mid 60s to low 90s. Our typical range for the weekend. Sunday a little cooler and the cooling continues into early next week. Perhaps a chance of showers early next week. Im hoping that happens for all of us to breathe a little easier. That would do wonders. It sure would. Thank you. The oakland zoo closed today because of the poor air quality. Management did not think it would be healthy for people to be outside. You will be glad to know that zoo keepers say all the animals are doing okay. There is not a lot that can be done just like there isnt for people. Most of our animals are healthy and so this limited impact is not causing obvious health times for them. Animals to some degree have a benefit in that they dont really understand what is going on. For humans, for many of us this is very disturbing because we understand were living in a Climate Crisis u. The zoo has not announced plans for tomorrow. Guests who had tickets for today will be able to rebook. Now, here are more images from around the bay area. The coast looking toward the peninsula, downtown San Francisco, there look at the Sales Force Tower stretching into the rusty sky. The chapel at st. Marys, scenes we wont soon forget. In fact a lot of people on social media today are saying todays skies reminded them of mars or the movie blade runner. Here is a comparison. That is the Oakland Coliseum in the middle. Hard to tell which image is the most unsettling. A bay area car Company Takes on tesla. They just revealed the if your dry eye symptoms keep coming back, inflammation in your eye might be to blame. Looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes overthecounter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. Ha these drops probably wont touch me. Xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. What is that . Xiidra, noooo it can provide lasting relief. Xiidra is the only fda approved treatment specifically for the signs and sympto of dry eye disease. Twice a day. Dont use if youre allergic to xiidra. Common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. Dont touch container tip to your eye or any surface. After using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. Got any room in your eye . Talk to an eye doctor about twicedaily xiidra. I prefer you didnt xiidra. Not today, dry eye. For spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Grubhubs gonna reward you for that with a 5 off perk. doorbell rings [crowd] grubhub fireworks exploding i grew up in the bay area in San Francisco and a number of photographs that have been sent by family, friends this morning overwhelmed my inbox. There is obvious concern around air quality. Governor newsom of course talking about todays autumn colored sky. He says the state received two more federal assistance grants last night to help fight the fires. Now, here is an incredible number from the governor today. He says 44 of Small Businesses are concerned they may have to close because of the covid19 pandemic. So today he signed three bills that may help. One authorizes up to 100 million in tax credits for Small Businesses that hire or rehire employees in the next three months. Companies with fewer than 100 employees that lost at least half their typical revenue between april and june will be eligible. They can get 1,000 in credits for each worker hired. An Alameda County company has unveiled a new car today designed to compete with tesla. The lucid air is designed by lucid motors based in newark. The company says lucid air is the longest range Battery Powered car so far. It can go up to 517 miles on a single charge. That could get you from San Francisco to about san diego depending on your route. Engineering led tech company. All the technology for this groundbreaking car has been developed in house. Batteries, motors, invertors, electronics. The base model with an unspecified mileage range will start at below 80 grand. Production is due to begin in early 2021 at the companys plant in arizona. A pop up becomes permanent because their tacos may just be the best anywhere in the bay the 6. 99 super slam is your perfect meal, its buttermilk pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon and hash browns. Its enough breakfast for dinner and its as good as it sounds. See you at dennys. Coming up on abc 7 news at 6 00 a psychologist helps us make sense of the scary sky and process our feelings. It turns out kids might be better at handling this than adults. Well find out why. And the pandemic changed how we work and how our kids learn. Working parents are sandwiched between both struggles. Could paid leave help build a better bay area . Those stories and a lot more coming up on abc 7 news at 6 00. Finally tonight, an east bay family seeing their dream come true despite the pandemic. They started by selling tacos out of their garage and now that is just a sweet memory. East Bay Community journalist has their story. You get this big taco and your first bite is your teeth going through this crunchy shell. Its just packed with flavor. El garage started out of our home garage in february of 2019. Me and my sister, we used to live in this converted garage. We thought about selling food. The way we came about this, she was on instagram and said my mom makes the best. Lets create it. Kind of built it out together and it came to be about this and it is super good. We start off with a 6inch regular corn tortilla. We dip it into our sauces. Then we put mozzarella cheese over it and our beef and then we just close it up and make it a cheesy taco. And if you put all your toppings and things like cilantro, onions, salsa, it is the best combination. Just the style and the way they make it and the sauces and everything, just delicious. When you get this, sometimes you have to get it with two hands but it is still crunchy and you get all of the flavors in your mouth. Its amazing. We were doing the popups precovid. It was kind of like a big back yard party. Wait time for about one hour to almost two hours. We started off with six pounds that first day that we started and right now were doing almost a thousand pounds a weekend. It was really important for us to stay here in richmond. We want to basically bring really nice plates of food, super quality food at a good price. Right now were only doing preorder so we are selling the food before the day even gets here. Its taco after taco after taco. Its unreal. Just seeing the amount of support we keep getting just feels great. Hungry anybody . You knew i was already hungry. Not even fair. World news tonight with david muir is next. We appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us tonight. Our next newscast is at 6 00 p. M. See you then. Propit provides property tax mostfairnessble. For disabled homeowners like cynde, stuck living with a broken elevator. Nineteen helps wildfire victims, like ellie, one of 24,000 whove lost their homes to fire. And seniors like pam who need to move closer to family or medical care, without a tax penalty. Prop 19 limits taxes on our most vulnerable. Yes on 19. Tonight, the bombshell recordings. President trump in his own words admitting to downplaying the coronavirus. Early on, calling it deadly, and saying privately, it goes through the air, thats how its passed. The president giving 18 interviews to bob woodward, telling woodward in early february he knew the virus was much deadlier than the flu. But later, telling the American People the virus was like the flu. And then in march, he told woodward privately he knew its not just infecting old people, revealing its, quote, young people, too, plenty of young people. President trump admitting to intentionally misleading the American Public because he didnt want to cause a panic. Tonight, how the president is now explaining the comments. And joe bidens response tonight. The harrowing new images this evening. Dozens of devastating wildfires