Here’s today’s CNN article on fires rampaging in two provinces:
Approximately 3,200 residents in northeastern British Columbia were under an evacuation order Saturday afternoon as the Parker Lake fire raged on in the area, spanning more than 4,000 acres. Meanwhile, evacuation alerts were in place for parts of Alberta as the MWF-017 wildfire spread to nearly 5,000 acres.
Smoke from the infernos has caused Environment Canada to issue a special air quality statement that extends from British Columbia to Ontario.
And it’s only mid-May, barely the start of Canada’s wildfire season, which normally doesn’t hit its height till June and July. Will 2024 be as awful as last year? The air-quality alerts are already being issued for as far east as Ontario.
We had smoke haze a couple of days ago from BC and Alberta.
Did you get hammered with smoke a lot last year? The stuff made it to New England last summer, noticeably dimming the days more than once.
Yes, we got a lot, but not as bad as some of the photos we saw of New York.
The prevailing winds with the haze must have had a southward as well as eastward direction, since Boston and northward on the coast wasn’t as bad as New York.
Let’s hope (despite global warming) it isn’t as bad a season this year.
Or at least better prepared.
Batman does fire fighting now?
Only if they send up a giant signal showing roasting s’mores.
I am absolutely dreading the fire season. Every year is worse than the last and we are predicted to have a catastrophic fire season this year. Here on Vancouver Island it’s already a bit hazy, the forests are tinder dry and it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Where I live there is only one long, forested road leading in and out to our house. If there is a fire that cuts us off from escape, our plan is to head to the river and try to swim across to the other side.
That’s terrifying! Can you get hold of a boat and keep it ready?
I can’t help wondering what major Canadian cities might find a wildfire raging toward them, and what a catastrophe in so many ways that would be. Bad enough the smaller towns and outlying homes being incinerated, but a metropolis would be orders of magnitude worse.
In Minnesota, we had your smoke all day yesterday. I think it finally cleared out this morning. The wind must have switched. It’s hard to believe that we can be so far away yet even smell the burning wood.
Canadians are so polite. WTF has gone wrong with their fires?
The river is about a 5 minute walk away and not on our property so we’d just be making a mad dash for it.
Stopped getting very cold winters in some parts, or less snow. So less water in the dry soil.
Earlier spring and summers. We’ve always had wildfires but not so many or so large.
Hope the government is better prepared this year. We don’t need Canadian cities on the most polluted list.
More info. (Post gift link.)
not too long ago I read Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World and I recommend it to anyone who doesn’t understand how different fire is from what it was not that long ago.
not in a good way! 
Essentially, these are last year’s fires coming back to life after “over-wintering” under the snow.
Are you freaking kidding me?!!! 
Now, wait a minute. First of all, fires need oxygen, so why doesn’t the snow cover simply suffocate the fire?! Also, the heat of the fire must melt the snow above it, so why doesn’t the water from the melting snow act as nature’s “sprinkler system” and wash out the fire?!
Wow, this just gets better and better.