It's Ba-a-ck! Canadian Wildfire Smoke Making Inroads (*Not In Vermont Yet)

A thick, smoky haze engulfed St. Albans on June 25, 2023
as winds blew wildfire smoke southward from Canada.
Fires are starting in Canada again, and we might have
another smoky summer like last year as a result. 

 Air quality alerts were in effect in much of Minnesota and Wisconsin this morning as wildfire smoke from Canada drifted into the two states behind a cold front. 

So yes, last year's acrid "gifts" from Canada are back. 

Fires are burning in British Columbia and Alberta, generating smoke that's spreading across much of central Canada and dipping down into the north-central United States.     

The fires near Fort Nelson, in northeastern British Columbia forced the evacuation of 3,500 people.

A wildfire near Fort McMurray, an oil hub in northeastern Alberta put residents there on alert for possible evacuations. 

That had to make the 66,000 residents there especially antsy, with memories still fresh of the 2016 calamity there. In May, 2016, a massive wildfire roared through Fort McMurray, killing two people and destroying 2,400 homes and businesses. The blaze was the most expensive disaster in Canadian history. 

This weekend, a few well-timed showers helped temporarily tamp down the fire near Fort McMurray. More showers are in the forecast and shifting winds are driving flames away from the city for now.   

The fires, though widespread in Canada, are is far not as extensive as they were this time last year. Which means there's not quite as much smoke being generated.  In turn, that means the big smoke outs we had last year in the United States aren't repeating. At least not yet. 

LOOKING AHEAD

There's plenty of time for wildfires to grow, as they can last all summer and into the autumn. 

We also have some ominous signs for wildfires this summer in Canada.

Last month, Canada's government warned of a potentially explosive fire season, citing drought in parts of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Additionally, unseasonably warm temperatures melted snow prematurely, allowing the landscape to dry out earlier and faster and more completely than it otherwise would.

The same thing happened last year, when 37 million acres of Canadian forest burned. That was easily the worst fire season in the nation's history.  

Another wildcard is "zombie fires." Those are fires from last summer that spend the winter smoldering underground all winter. 

If hot dry weather hits, those zombies could come back to life, causing new big, destructive wildfires. There's evidence that's starting to happen in Alberta. 

CLIMATE CHANGE ROLE

Canadian government officials say climate change has made wildfires more likely in Canada than they once were. 

I also need to detour into a bit of a rant here.

Climate change denial types are all over social media, thinking they have a winning argument.  They're mocking a non-existent notion that "leftists" think climate change causes wildfires.   As if those worried about climate change think forests just spontaneously burst into flames if it gets too hot out. 

To be clear, nobody thinks climate change "causes" fires.  Lightning, downed power lines, arson and stupid people are major causes. The problem is climate change often makes those fires worse than they otherwise would be.

If climate change makes things hotter and drier, the fires will more likely get out of control and spread more widely. Climate change can turn nothing burger local blazes into widespread, dangerous conflagrations. 

VERMONT OUTLOOK

So far, unlike last year, there are few if any fires in Quebec and other eastern Canadian provinces.  If that trend continues, we in Vermont are less likely to see dense smoke like we did last year.  Instead, the western Canadian fires will probably occasionally make our skies hazy, but the pollution in general might not be as bad as last year. 

All bets are off, though, if Quebec and Ontario burst into flames like last year.  Could happen this summer. 

As for that smoke currently in the upper Midwest, forecasts don't bring much of it our way once that cold front makes its way through New England during the middle of the week. We might see a bit of haze in the sky, but I don't anticipate a big smoke attack. 

Fascinating "Smoke Front" Over Vermont On Monday

A "smoke front" over New England Monday.
North of Route 4 in Vermont and New Hampshire, it
was clear and bright. South of that rough line,
it was hazy from smoke aloft. 

Just a quick post today, building on what I called the "smoke front" that I mentioned was in southern Quebec Sunday.  

It was a fascinating feature that moved south into Vermont on Monday. North of this "front" it was crystal clear. South of it, not so much. 

I personally don't like it when that smoky haze builds up in the atmosphere. I love what I call classic Blue/Green days, and I look forward to them each year.  

Which is what we had in northern Vermont Monday. The sky was a dazzling, deep, crisp blue. The green trees shimmered in the bright sunshine and light breezes.

Just a gorgeous day. The smoke was gone, at least for a little while. 

But it wasn't far away. A visible satellite photo from Monday afternoon illustrates this. Click on the satellite photo to make it bigger and easier to see.

Far northern New York, northern Vermont, northern New Hampshire and Quebec was clear and bright.  However, there was a sharp dividing line through Rutland and Windsor counties, south of which the smoke remained. 

Click on the satellite photo to make it bigger and easier to see.

That sharp line had been over southern Quebec Sunday, but moved south. 

Crisp, clean blue skies and bright sunshine north of the
"smoke front" on Monday afternoon in St. Albans, Vermont

This "smoke front" was really a cold front that sort of washed out as it hit southern Vermont. You could tell by the temperatures, too. It was only in the low 60s across northern Vermont Monday but in the low 70s south. 

The smoke, of course, is coming back, so it was a short reprieve. The skies over northern Vermont were still nice and blue this morning, but this morning's satellite views show that "smoke front" getting more diffuse and the high altitude haze heading north and east again. 

South winds ahead of a strong cold front that is due tomorrow will ensure the smoky haze will last at last until the cold front comes through. 

Lucky for us, the smoke has stayed mostly aloft all this month, so we haven't had any real health issues with this, like other parts of the nation have. 

There's still a lot of smoke drifting over vast areas of North America, and the Alberta fires are still raging. 

Smoke forecasts say it will be hazy over Vermont by noon today, and stay that way into tomorrow. That next strong cold front on Wednesday should clear us out nicely for a sunny, bright, but cool Thursday.

Those smoke forecasts do have all that atmospheric smoke over North America dissipating somewhat over the next several days, so maybe we'll have at least a temporary break from the hazy skies as we move toward the end of the month. 

Smoke Billows Into U.S. From Canada As "Clean Air" Cities Increasingly Choke On Wildfire Smoke

Satellite view Saturday of dense smoke from fires in
Alberta pouring across the International Border into
Montana and surrounding states

 San Francisco and Seattle have reputations for clean air. Breezes off the Pacific Ocean usually sweep air pollution away and people breathe easy.  

Calgary, Alberta, Canada is also known as a clean air city. It's on the high plains just east of the Canadian Rockies, not far from Banff National Park.  

In recent years, though, those cities have had relatively brief but disconcerting episodes in which they had the worst air pollution in the world. Worse than Beijing. Worse than New Delhi. Worse than than Lahore. 

The problem is wildfires. Thanks in large part to climate change, these cities have had episodes of intense, dangerous air pollution. 

The latest victim is Calgary. The smoke from Alberta wildfires is spreading far and wide But Calgary, a major city closest to the fires, is really socked in by the smoke. 

Smoke this past week in the Canadian city was downright dangerous, even for healthy people. The smoke was double the level considered hazardous, and visibility was done to a half mile. Calgary was probably the most polluted city in the world on Tuesday. 

This is reminiscent of San Francisco in 2021, when wildfires turned the sky and air an apocalyptic orange, and created serious health alerts. 

For a time last October, Seattle had the worst air quality in the world due to wildfire smoke. Some wild fire smoke has returned to Seattle from Canada in recent days, but it's so far not as bad as last year. 

Back in Canada, the wildfire smoke problem has been getting much worse in and around Calgary. They rarely had problems with smoke before about 2015, but since then, it's been a yearly issue. 

The smoke isn't just annoying and disheartening. It's dangerous. The smoke can endanger people with lung and heart problems, and worsen asthma. 

The American Lung Association says wildfire smoke contains tiny particles that can embed themselves deep in the lungs, which is why it's so dangerous. The smoke can trigger heart attacks and strokes in susceptible people. So it's nothing to be trifled with. 

Wildfire smoke from Alberta, Canada blotting out the
sun over Vermont on May 8 

The worst spring wildfire season in Alberta continues to grind on in the face of record early season heat. Smoke from these fires have spread far and wide.  Record high temperatures continued across western Canada this week, encouraging fires to spread and new ones to start.

Even up in the Northwest Territories of Canada, where snow should still be on the ground, wildfires are burning amid the record heat. 

At least 90 fires were burning across Alberta as of this week, so the smoke isn't going to stop anytime soon. 

Air quality alerts were in effect yesterday and continue today in Montana, Washington State, Minnesota and other states as the smoke was at ground level there. 

The smoke is even more widespread aloft, streaming over much of the United States. I once again noticed smoke high overhead in Vermont this morning. That's at least the eighth day this month in which smoke dimmed the sun over the Green Mountain State. 

So far, anyway, the smoke over Vermont hasn't really made it to the surface, although a bit haze in the air this morning and on some other days in the past couple of weeks indicates a few of those particulates in the wildfire smoke is making it into our lungs. 

Still, air quality in Vermont hasn't been too bad. The air quality index in Vermont was still in the "good" range this morning, so no issues there.