These photos and videos show wildfire smoke blocking out the sun in the San Francisco area

Heavy smoke from fires burning in the region brought a cloud of darkness to San Francisco and the Bay Bridge on Wednesday morning.JIM WILSON/NYT

As wildfires raged across California on Wednesday, a massive cloud of smoke covered much of the state, blocking out the morning sun in the Bay Area and turning the sky an ominous shade of orange.

“Some called it a nuclear winter. Cars kept their headlights on. Office towers in San Francisco, where the smoke is mixing with fog, were illuminated as if in the middle of the night,” a New York Times report stated.

The scene led one reporter to state that in all his years reporting, he had “never seen anything like this, and hope I never see it again.”

A new experience at the Golden Gate Bridge. . #abc7now pic.twitter.com/ONyjKbZqd5

— Wayne Freedman (@WayneFreedman) September 9, 2020

Here are more photos, videos, and tweets showing the state of Northern California on Wednesday:

Heavy smoke from fires burning in the region brought a cloud of darkness to the San Francisco skyline on Wednesday morning. Wildfires were ripping through several Western states on Wednesday, destroying homes and forcing thousands of people to evacuate as an extraordinary number of blazes raged in California, Washington, and Oregon. JIM WILSON/NYT

The Embarcadero on Wednesday morning.JIM WILSON/NYT

People walked along the perimeter of Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday morning.JIM WILSON/NYT

Smoke filled the air over homes in Oakland.Michael Short/Bloomberg

An orange sky filled with wildfire smoke hung above hiking trails at the Limeridge Open Space in Concord, Calif.BRITTANY HOSEA-SMALL/AFP via Getty Images

Hiking trails below an orange sky filled with wildfire smoke at the Limeridge Open Space in Concord.BRITTANY HOSEA-SMALL/AFP via Getty Images

A single car drove along Ygnacio Valley Road below an orange sky in Concord.BRITTANY HOSEA-SMALL/AFP via Getty Images

A bicyclist rode past a seating area outside a wine bar as smoke from wildfires darkened the morning sky Wednesday in Sausalito, Calif. Eric Risberg/Associated Press

The Golden Gate Bridge was barely visible through smoke from wildfires Wednesday morning in this view from Fort Baker near Sausalito, Calif. Eric Risberg/Associated Press

A man walked along Bridgeway Avenue and looked out at the darkened morning sky Wednesday in Sausalito, Calif. Eric Risberg/Associated Press

A man walked his dog along Bridgeway Avenue.Eric Risberg/Associated Press

Polo Salmon, left, and Bobby Slack, both of Vallejo, Calif., fished for rock crab from a pier at Fort Baker near Sausalito, Calif. At left is Alcatraz Island. Eric Risberg/Associated Press

People really don’t know what to do right now. Everyone on the Embarcadero is stopping to record the sky and chit chatting in a way I haven’t seen since pre-pandemic @sfchronicle pic.twitter.com/ueKQ4g7WTD

— Jessica Christian (@jachristian) September 9, 2020

Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge at 9:20 IN THE MORNING. pic.twitter.com/nyiY0vWxf5

— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) September 9, 2020

Absolutely no filter involved here. This is the morning sky over San Francisco at 8am. Orange, dark and ashy bc of wildfires. I was two days away from my 8th birthday when Mt. St. Helens shook the planet. I’m from Seattle-Tacoma and i remember the sky looked just like this. pic.twitter.com/zgOkT2Ou5f

— Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) September 9, 2020

The view from "Mount Vision" near Point Reyes per @NVSeismoLab's https://t.co/wrLjrnA6Mg.

Notice the other regional cams around the North Bay show a similar view. #cawx pic.twitter.com/6RUnFAZvpX

— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) September 9, 2020

Orange, glowing skies this morning at #SFO due to the nearby California wildfires. At this time, the air quality is currently NOT affecting air traffic at the Airport. pic.twitter.com/nh2sd6LLv6

— San Francisco International Airport (SFO) ✈️ (@flySFO) September 9, 2020

11AM GOES17 geocolor imagery shows a very thick multilevel smoke deck over much of California.

This smoke is filtering the incoming energy from the sun, causing much cooler temperatures and dark dreary red-shifted skies across many areas.#cawx pic.twitter.com/5hmZZtdNDo

— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) September 9, 2020

Wire material from the Associated Press and The New York Times was used in this report.