My youngest step-son usually goes to Burning man but not this year. He is a nurse and works in the hospital area. I seriously doubt it was wacky-tabacky, it had to be something much stronger or a combination of a lot of stuff.
It is a real mess here in on the left coast. Fires still going on it BC (British Columbia), three fires here in WA, a big one in Bend OR and a bad one in CA. As the sun came up today it was a big dark red ball; I just took the garbage out and it is overhead and it is a bright orange ball with a halo around it. Too bright to look directly at but still there. If it was the day of the eclipse you would barely need to use the special glasses
(kidding of course so don't try it).
It is just a bit brighter than dusk outside due to the smoke in the air. Looking across the street you can see the house OK but with a blurry haze to it. Up the street it is like looking through light to medium fog (the colors are different due to the smoke) and there is almost no wind and there is ash falling on the cars. I just went out and looked at my almost a truck and you can barely see through the windshield. (It is black and the ash isn't a powder but larger flakes of ash and you can see some of the larger flakes floating down.) When I opened the garage door the smell of smoke came pouring in. I think they said that there were health warnings out for us elderly and for kids. Being out just long enough to take the garbage out, my clothes now smell like I have been around a campfire for a while.
A day or two more and they (the weather guessers) are thinking that there will be on-shore wind with the possibility of rain and... you guessed it... lightening! Just what we need, more fires.
Not as bad as what is going on down south but it isn't fun either.