Canada Really Burning Up This Spring. Literally And Temperature Wise

Forest fire near Chapais, Quebec late last week.

 If you think it's strange that you're constantly hearing about destructive wildfires in Canada this spring, you're right.   

The nation to our north has had an unprecedented wildfire season, fueled by drought in many areas and especially frequent bouts with record high temperatures, which have really dried out huge tracks of Canada. 

As the Washington Post tells us:

"During May alone, Canada saw greater than 6.5 million acres burn compared to an average of about 370,000 acres during the month. 

'These conditions this early in the season are unprecedented, and of course they are deeply concerning to all Canadians,' Bill Blair, Canada's minister of emergency preparedness told reports Thursday, according to Canadian Broadcasting Corp."

There are no signs that Canada's wildfire nightmare will end anytime soon, but the worst of the fires will probably shift from place to place. 

CANADIAN FIRES WIDESPREAD

Satellite view of numerous forest fires in Quebec
Saturday. Most of these blazes are in vast
forests north and west of Quebec City. 

The fires first broke out in Alberta and British Columbia in late April and May, amid incredible heat for so early in the season. This region of Canada had its hottest May on record, and serious drought conditions are entrenched in these two provinces. 

The fires late in the month flared in late May across Quebec, New Brunswick and especially Nova Scotia.  The same heat wave that brought highest for so early in the season temperatures here in Vermont did the same in southeastern Canada. 

Halifax, Nova Scotia reached a record 91 degrees late last week,  in a city where the normal high this time of year is only in the low 60s. Canada's Capitol, Ottawa,

 Ontario near the Quebec border reached a hottest for so early in the season temperature of 95 on Thursday. Normal highs there are in the low 70s. 

Worse, the dry heat that has been hitting southeastern Canada is now migrating back westward. On Friday and Saturday, the wildfire situation in Quebec was worsening, with a major blaze around Sept Iles, well northeast of Quebec City along the north shore of St. Lawrence Bay. 

At least 5000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes in the region Friday afternoon,. the CBC reported

Satellite photos indicate several more fires started in the vast province of Quebec on Saturday.  Warmish, and definitely dry weather is spreading westward into Ontario, where fires are already burning, so the situation will probably get worse there. Near record warmth and continued dry weather is also in the forecast for the next week in western Canada. 

On the bright side, soaking rains began falling in fire-ravaged Nova Scotia Saturday, and the rainy weather is forecast to continue for a few days. Eastern Quebec, where fires have been raging for days, expects some rain, but not a soaker.  Virtually no rain will fall on northern and western parts of the province over the next week. 

The fire danger extends down here into Vermont, but in a less extreme fashion, thank goodness. Last Sunday, a wildfire broke out in Northfield, but a large response from firefighters kept the fire down to three acres, says WCAX.

Light rain this week would temporarily tamp down fire risk in the Green Mountain State this week.  At least for today, and probably tomorrow, though, the fire danger in Vermont is high. 

SMOKE

The bottom line for all this is: Get used to smoke in the atmosphere, here in Vermont and in most of the United States and Canada.

Pretty much half the month of May featured smoke in the sky above us in Vermont. On some days, the smoke somewhat elevated pollution levels down where we live, but it wasn't as bad as in many places across Canada and the United States in recent weeks.  Air quality alerts have scattered across the nation for weeks now due to the smoke.  

Expect to often see more hazy skies due to smoke in the coming weeks.  Due to the proximity of fires in western and northern Quebec and eastern Ontario, I can easily foresee days in the coming weeks in which air quality alerts might be needed in Vermont.  

When there's an air quality alert, people with pre-existing illnesses, especially lung problems and asthma, are at risk for some real problems. 

In the short term, winds are coming from the northeast so most of the smoke is headed toward the Great Lakes.  However, winds might turn more northerly or northwesterly later in the week, driving the smoke right into Vermont. Stay tuned.