Hi Jas,
I looked up the page on planet oppositions here in IIS. I'm a little out in how "bad" things are. By bad I mean where Mars is in its elliptical orbit. When it is at its furthest point from the Sun, it is also at its furthest from us when at opposition making the angular size of Mars very small. From the info on the Oppositions page, its furthest opposition was a couple of years ago. Its best opposition will happen in 4years time:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/planetopp.html
If you have been seeing both caps this week, then it must be local atmospheric conditions that have been poor for me.
As you mentioned, now is when Mars is currently at its best - for its current orbit position. In 4years time, its opposition will also coincide with its closest approach in its orbit to the sun. Earth's period is one year. Mars' is close to two. So as the two planets orbit the Sun, when they are at opposition once nearly every couple of years, the two planets will be in a different stage of their orbit around the Sun, closer or further away and in between.