The day the skies turned Red over parts of South Western Pa.

My parents often talked about the day the sky's over Pittsburgh turned red and how they walked home from school  in all the red colored smoke and smog one day in the 1940's
While many thought it was caused by massive forest fires in Canada  others are not so ready to give it such a simple explanation as other areas of the state where not covered by the mysterious red smog. northern county's closer to Canada you think would be covered by the smoke like Erie and Mercer where not.

Pollution in Pittsburgh was so bad some days as seen in noon picture above

But smog and pollution was so bad in Pittsburgh back in those days that there where days like in the picture above where street lights stayed lighted all day. A typical business man who wore white shirts back then had to change them up to 3 times a day.  I remember even in the 60's as a child how bad the pollution was certain summer days  even after efforts where made to curb it.

Of course red skies over certain communities where common  like in Connelsville where beehive coke ovens where operated but by the 40s most had been shut down and replaced with less smog producing ovens.
So that was not the cause of it possibly the Pittsburgh  area was getting ready to have its own deadly killer smog like that which hit Donora Pa. in 1948

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Donora_smog

What ever it was it is still speculated to this day to even being a Government secret experiment.  Because they did not have the complex capture and testing systems like they do today. What ever it was thank God it went as quickly as it came and did not settle over the valleys.


UPDATE

seems the smoke from the forrest fire  did effect all of waestern pa that day I recenty ran across htese arcticles talking about it in Erie pa.