# Looks like we’re sending more smoke down south **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 30, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014 "2025-05-30T18:34:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/1 "2025-05-30T18:34:15Z")
Wildfire season has started early in the Canadian West, and predictions are for even more smoke than last year. > **[Recent Canadian wildfires are record-breaking – and will threaten US air...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/30/canada-wildfires-air-quality)** > > After historic seasons in last two years, blazes continue trend of warm, dry conditions intensified by climate crisis It’s extremely hazy in southern Sask right now, and I’m even seeing bits of ash floating down, although i’m well away from the fires. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/2 "2025-05-30T18:48:38Z")
So does Canada have a wildfire management policy? In the U.S. it has traditionally been to put out every little fire–resulting in a massive amount of deadwood and massive mega-fires which can’t be controlled. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/3 "2025-05-30T18:52:02Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Wildfire season has started early in the Canadian West, and predictions are for even more smoke than last year. I know we get it here where I live, drifting down from Canada. But we also have wildfires closer to home as well. It’s strange how normal this is now; it’s as seasonal as longer days. This was never a thing when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/4 "2025-05-30T18:54:18Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So does Canada have a wildfire management policy? Dunno, sorry. It wouldn’t be federal, since the Crown lands in a province belong to the province, which would set the policies. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/5 "2025-05-30T18:59:34Z")
And it would be rude to tell Alberta to stick that in their pipe and smoke it when it is ablaze. All seriousness aside, a huge federal disaster program for environmental problems might be a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/6 "2025-05-30T19:08:22Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > In the U.S. it has traditionally been to put out every little fire–resulting in a massive amount of deadwood and massive mega-fires which can’t be controlled. While forest management policies to minimize burning and allowing surface fuels (not just deadwood but burnable grassland dead plant matter) to build up have contributed to massive wildfires in the Coastal and Sierra Nevada ranges, a bigger problem, and the one that definitely impacts central Canada, is the lack of enduring snowpack, earlier spring (encouraging grass and scrub growth) followed by much drier and hotter summer and a ‘wildfire season’ that now extends into late fall and early winter because of erratic precipitation. The “warm, dry conditions” mentioned in the _Guardian_ article not only make fires more likely but sustain them and cause them to be more intense and faster moving, especially coupled with aggressive dry winds. This is an inevitable consequence of climate change, and specifically the heating in the Pacific Ocean changing precipitation patterns to which the forests have previously been adapted. [FACT SHEET: Climate change and wildfires in Canada](https://climateinstitute.ca/news/fact-sheet-wildfires/#:~:text=Climate%20change%20makes,much%20more%20easily). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/7 "2025-05-30T19:19:22Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Wildfire season has started early in the Canadian West, and predictions are for even more smoke than last year. Yep, we’re starting to get it in my neighborhood, at the moment still pretty high up in the atmosphere but that is changing. Local air monitors say we’re still in the “good” range but we’re right on the edge of that and “moderate”. Um… thanks for the great sunsets and sunrises…? Stay safe up there, good neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/8 "2025-05-30T19:37:18Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > the one that definitely impacts central Canada “Central Canada” is Ontario and Quebec. We’re the West! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/9 "2025-05-30T19:37:56Z")
Haze has got steadily worse during the day. I can no longer see the horizon. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/10 "2025-05-30T19:42:53Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Wildfire season has started early in the Canadian West, and predictions are for even more smoke than last year. I am not sure last season ever ended: [Zombie fires](https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/zombie-fires-canada-wildfires-1.7207765). ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/11 "2025-05-30T20:05:49Z")
But you’re Central Standard Time! ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/12 "2025-05-30T20:08:47Z")
Why can’t you Canadians rake your forests, [like Finland does](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/19/make-america-rake-again-finland-trump-forest-fire)? 😜 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/13 "2025-05-30T23:10:39Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > But you’re Central Standard Time! Right. None of that Central Daylight stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/14 "2025-05-30T23:24:22Z")
Hey, I was gonna say that, you dirty ninja 😄 Altho’ you said it much better. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/15 "2025-05-31T00:49:23Z")
Damn. Ninja’d by **solost** and **Beck**. It was the first ting that popped into my mind when reading the thread title. If you were a state, you would be eligible for FEMA assistance. At least, until it is no more. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/16 "2025-05-31T01:17:52Z")
[![](https://i.giphy.com/Zxc9pHhaZwlKk9zyLy.webp) ](https://i.giphy.com/Zxc9pHhaZwlKk9zyLy.webp) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/17 "2025-05-31T02:36:54Z")
On a serious note, from my eastern-Iowa vantage point, it’s hazy (although I can’t smell smoke, yet) and earlier this evening, the sun was a bright orange circle in the sky, ALMOST damped down enough to look at. One of my Canadian Facebook friends posted a picture from Lynn Lake, in northern Manitoba, that looked quite ominous. I’ll see if I can find it. (Later) Didn’t find the exact picture, except via Facebook, but this article has plenty of dramatic pictures. I saw in another story that parts of Flin Flon, on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, have been evacuated. > **[Former firefighter staying behind as Lynn Lake threatened by wildfire](https://www.ctvnews.ca/winnipeg/article/former-firefighter-staying-behind-as-lynn-lake-threatened-by-wildfire/)** > > A former firefighter in Manitoba is giving on the ground updates as a wildfire encroaches on his community. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/18 "2025-05-31T02:48:28Z")
I didn’t mean to minimize it, and didn’t realize initially how bad it was. Which is dumb on my part, because these kinds of widespread fires have become too common in recent years. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/19 "2025-05-31T02:59:32Z")
This book is about the 2016 fire that destroyed part of Fort McMurray, Alberta, and led to this city of 88,000 being completely evacuated except for First Responders. I also learned a new word: “infandous”, meaning a concept too devastating to verbalize. > **[Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World (Used Hardcover) - John](https://reachareader.com/products/fire-weather-a-true-story-from-a-hotter-world-used-hardcover-john-vailant?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=9c-bookstore&utm_term=dynamic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17058005688&gbraid=0AAAAACUpomHnu7Tvpw9j4Jxv8hR926uPN&gclid=CjwKCAjwruXBBhArEiwACBRtHfB06GLz7iwyksn8f0_2xs-cT8KFskuZd2e0YLlwAfKodHD9g4o7AhoC_gkQAvD_BwE)** > > A stunning account of a colossal wildfire that collided with a city and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankindIn May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada’s oil industry and America’s biggest... ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014/20 "2025-05-31T06:13:09Z")
We had a big discussion of the fire here: > [@Fort McMurray, Alberta: Massive Wildfire, 80,000 Ordered to Evacuate](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fort-mcmurray-alberta-massive-wildfire-80-000-ordered-to-evacuate/753849): > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the\_americas/wildfires-cause-chaos-in-canada-town/2016/05/03/46d1dae0-118d-11e6-a9b5-bf703a5a7191\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/wildfires-cause-chaos-in-canada-town/2016/05/03/46d1dae0-118d-11e6-a9b5-bf703a5a7191_story.html) This city is more than 500 miles north of the U.S/Canadian border. It really surprises me that there would be such a massive wildfire so far north and relatively early in the year. Global warming a possible partial cause? Or are wildfires common in this area? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-we-re-sending-more-smoke-down-south/1019014.md?page=2)