Last year, a historic wildfire season in Canada resulted in hazy, smoky skies over vast swaths of the U.S., and experts predict that this summer will also be a smoky one.
“With ‘megafires’ now the new normal in the west, MPCA meteorologists expect we’ll see more of the same for years to come,” said a recent article from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “Climate change has contributed to record hot summers and a severe and persistent drought across the western U.S. and Canada.”
According to a study published this February in ESS Open Archive, the 2023 wildfire season over the Canadian border was “unprecedented” in both scale and intensity. It lasted from late April to early November and the fires burned an approximately 15 million hectares. That’s seven times the historic annual average.
“The impacts were profound with more than 200 communities evacuated (approximately 232,000 people), periods of dense smoke that caused significant public health concerns, and unprecedented demands on fire-fighting resources,” said the study.
Even though the season ended in November, The Washington Post reported last month that “zombie fires” were burning under the ground and snow in Canada. Per Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center data cited in the report, a warm and dry summer allowed 150 fires to keep burning across British Columbia and Alberta.
“Fortunately, the cool and wet spring across northern Minnesota and southern Canada has improved drought conditions where large fires occurred last summer,” said Nick Witcraft, an MPCA meteorologist. “We’re hopeful that we won’t see large fires close to home again this summer, however another hot and dry summer is expected again out west.”
These fires can have an impact miles and miles from where they burn. According to the MPCA, with the increase of wildfires in recent years, there have been 46 air quality alerts in that state since 2015 – 34 were due to wildfire smoke and 26 were issued last year alone.
“We’ve seen many large and intense fires across western Canada that generate an enormous amount of smoke,” said MPCA meteorologist David Brown. “Weather patterns can carry the smoke long distances and bring it south across the border. This produces adverse air quality impacts for Minnesota.”
As we head into the 2024 season, the Edmonton Journal reports that experts forecast that this one will be challenging as well. One reason is more overnight fire events.
“Researchers at Natural Resources Canada are looking at daytime drought indicators more often to help predict whether an overnight fire event will occur, said a research scientist with the Northern Forest Centre in Edmonton,” said the report. “According to a new study by wildfire researchers, drought is the main contributor to overnight fires that are becoming larger and more frequent.”
Witcraft noted that smoke from wildfires doesn’t just create an eerie atmosphere during what people expect to be sunny summer months. It also contains pollutants that are problematic for our health.
“Smoke contains carbon dioxide, water vapor, carbon monoxide, particles, hydrocarbons, other organic chemicals, and nitrogen oxides,” he said. But the pollutant that’s the most concern is fine particles. Those are the ones that seem to do the most damage to the lungs and the heart.”
Experts advise people to stay up to date on air quality warnings and to listen to public health recommendations to stay safe.