Home»Portola Valley Ranch, Windy Hill, Etc.»9/9/2020: A Day Without the Sun

The asteroid didn't kill the dinosaurs directly. Not the blast, the shock, the heat. Not the tsunami. But the asteroid impact did put an incredible amount of dust into the air. The sun was obscured for years. No sunlight. No photosynthesis. Plant-eating dinosaurs had no plants to eat. Meat-eating dinosaurs had no plant-eaters to eat. The ecosystems collapsed.

With no differential heating of the atmosphere at the equator, winds and weather became calm, I suspect.

The asteroid did not kill the dinosaurs directly. They starved to death in the cold, still, silent darkness.

(Some small mammals managed to survive. Eating decaying plants?)

Today I feel a bit like those dinosaurs. The sky is red. Not a breath of wind. No birdsong, no sun at dawn, noon, or sunset. Silence save the passing of other humans. The world has changed.

I trust this will not last for years.