From the article (a couple days old, but seems like a good overview): [...] [...] [...]
From the article (a couple days old, but seems like a good overview):
In the seven days ending Sunday, more than 3.5 million acres (1.4 million hectares) burned, or 69 percent of an average full season in the country. This year’s tally of land burned is now up to 17.8 million acres (7.2 million hectares), surpassing the entire year of 1995 with 17.5 million acres (7.1 million hectares), for the biggest fire season in modern history for Canada.
[...]
A prevailing story of this fire season is that angry infernos are spread across the country. Typical seasons in Canada tend to focus on one area, often the west, when it comes to the biggest blazes. The coast-to-coast nature of the current activity has made the fight incredibly fraught.
Early last week, powerful and slow-moving upper-level low pressure delivered rare heavy snowfall to high elevations of Alberta and British Columbia, while also bringing much-needed rain and some flooding to the prairies to the east. Moving into the weekend that just ended, that low pressure and rainfall departed, replaced by higher temperatures and a resumption of smoke production.
[...]
As seen with recent smoke invasions in the Northeastern United States, and in other parts of the United States and Canada, the smoke produced by the boreal forest fires is incredibly dense and foreboding. Unlike many forest fires where flames tear through the tree crowns and move on, boreal forests burn as much at the ground level because of extensive flora as well as other biomasses like peat.
[...]
Other than the occasional passage of low pressure and attendant rainfall chances, the fire weather situation remains similar to recent conditions. In other words, warmer than normal and drier than normal rolls on for much of the country. Typically, Canada’s fire season is just kicking into gear for the months ahead.
I'm in the Appalachian mountains in Virginia right now and the haze is crazy. Been seeing some impact on cardio in hikers lately, even if it's not super smokey it takes its toll.
I'm in the Appalachian mountains in Virginia right now and the haze is crazy. Been seeing some impact on cardio in hikers lately, even if it's not super smokey it takes its toll.
Northwestern Michigan has been under a pall of smoke for days. I woke up Tuesday morning, saw the fog outside (fog! In June!), smelled smoke. A groggy part of my brain did the alarmed "what's...
Northwestern Michigan has been under a pall of smoke for days. I woke up Tuesday morning, saw the fog outside (fog! In June!), smelled smoke. A groggy part of my brain did the alarmed "what's burning, do I need to gather the spouse, cats, and run away screaming?" dance. Then the dull, despairing "oh, it's Canada" realization hit me.
It's been burning eyes, wheezing, and exhaustion from the effort to breathe kind of bad ever since.
The smell isn't so intense down here in A2, but there's a definite haze on everything. I've got the house sealed up and running the fan occasionally even if I don't need the AC just to try and...
The smell isn't so intense down here in A2, but there's a definite haze on everything. I've got the house sealed up and running the fan occasionally even if I don't need the AC just to try and keep the air filtered. Considering buying an air purifier, especially since this is just the beginning of fire season.
I don't notice the smoke smell right now; we're just keeping the windows closed and I'm staying indoors as much as possible. In theory, the composite AQI for the area is down to "moderate" risk,...
I don't notice the smoke smell right now; we're just keeping the windows closed and I'm staying indoors as much as possible.
In theory, the composite AQI for the area is down to "moderate" risk, under 100. But Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (don't get me started on that bit of dishonest rebranding) has no official monitoring stations within 50 - 75 miles.
There's a real-time global map sponsored by the World Air Quality Project which supplements official data with a network of private stations. Local AQI is actually well into the unhealthy range, around 170 currently.
My Shadow Weather app seems to mostly agree (165) with the World AQ site (185). So it's confirmed : it's crap outside. In other news, I remembered I already had a pair of HEPA air purifiers...
My Shadow Weather app seems to mostly agree (165) with the World AQ site (185). So it's confirmed : it's crap outside.
In other news, I remembered I already had a pair of HEPA air purifiers stashed in a closet, so now they're humming along. Do the filters need replaced? Who knows, but it's probably better than nothing.
HEPA filters are awesome for general allergy management if you've got central air circulation. They do put strain on the furnace/AC blower, so you'll need to check them monthly. If the filter is...
HEPA filters are awesome for general allergy management if you've got central air circulation. They do put strain on the furnace/AC blower, so you'll need to check them monthly. If the filter is visibly very dirty, replace it immediately or you can wind up with noticeably reduced air circulation and/or a blower motor replacement.
I'm in Ontario and it's been awful the last couple of days. It's been raining and muggy and I thought at first it was a haze from the humidity, but when I stepped outside it smelled like burning...
I'm in Ontario and it's been awful the last couple of days. It's been raining and muggy and I thought at first it was a haze from the humidity, but when I stepped outside it smelled like burning plastic. Today is better, but it's been really bad this week, I've never seen it this bad before.
They need to start to do controlled burns again. This is going from one extreme to the next. Nature has always refreshed itself and one of the major ways was fire. When humans got involved and...
They need to start to do controlled burns again. This is going from one extreme to the next. Nature has always refreshed itself and one of the major ways was fire. When humans got involved and started keeping everything from burning, we get these massive buildups and now climate change and it's a damn powder keg.
Exactly: we need to spend more money on maintaining and improving ecosystem health! I'm a biologist, and speaking from my own experience: there's just not a ton of open jobs out there for folks...
Exactly: we need to spend more money on maintaining and improving ecosystem health!
I'm a biologist, and speaking from my own experience: there's just not a ton of open jobs out there for folks who want to monitor and preserve/improve forest health. Agencies (at least in the USA) just don't have the money to properly staff and equip the folks who are ostensibly responsible for caring for the environment IMHO. They're doing the best they can, but it's not cheap!
Another semi-tangential example: over my whole career (so far) it's been a struggle to get funding for "basic" research. I was trained as an ecologist, so I cut my teeth on learning what environmental cues elicit reproduction in an array of species...so while things like that aren't directly protecting our ecosystem health, it's one of myriad puzzle pieces that help us understand the threat these problems pose, and (hopefully) inspires people to protect even "mundane" species that are far more interesting than might be suspected.
The town I live in had a wildfire rip through and destroy over 2000 homes and businesses. Since then they’ve definitely ramped up the effort at doing controlled burns and clearing out dense...
The town I live in had a wildfire rip through and destroy over 2000 homes and businesses. Since then they’ve definitely ramped up the effort at doing controlled burns and clearing out dense understory vegetation. It takes a huge amount of work though and the work is slow. But you can tell the difference between areas that have been treated and areas that are still covered in downed logs, sticks and groundcover. I hope it’s enough but also would love to see more of that kind of work all over the state (Oregon) and country. We really need to bite the bullet and deal with occasional controlled burn smoke.
Yep, this is the spend a little in the short term or lose a lot in the long term. 2000 homes and businesses are millions of dollars worth of damage (if not more) and could have been prevented with...
Yep, this is the spend a little in the short term or lose a lot in the long term. 2000 homes and businesses are millions of dollars worth of damage (if not more) and could have been prevented with probably 1/2 that with having proper agencies to do controlled burns and make sure these fires which will happen, happen under our control.
I don't think the problem is a lack of controlled burns, it's the climate becoming more extreme with larger time period between rains - causing the terrain to become increasingly dry which makes...
They need to start to do controlled burns again.
I don't think the problem is a lack of controlled burns, it's the climate becoming more extreme with larger time period between rains - causing the terrain to become increasingly dry which makes it easier for forests to catch fire.
Controlled burns would probably minimize this, but there would still be an increase in forest fires simply because there is more time that the conditions favor fires than before.
We should probably invest in air purifiers and the companies that make them - though I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the HFT people have already figured this out and are STFU about it and just buying stock.
Rambling on - I sometimes do wonder if HFT traders have more insight into world trends than most, but keep quiet as to not ruin their trading advantage.
The money that can be gained by knowing, even slightly, the future is unmistakable, and such an advantage is worth so much that it would be easy to keep quiet.
That's definitely part of it, although funnily enough the inverse is also true. Sometimes the worst fire seasons start out as a really wet May/June which produces a lot of underbrush. Then when it...
I don't think the problem is a lack of controlled burns, it's the climate becoming more extreme with larger time period between rains - causing the terrain to become increasingly dry which makes it easier for forests to catch fire.
That's definitely part of it, although funnily enough the inverse is also true. Sometimes the worst fire seasons start out as a really wet May/June which produces a lot of underbrush. Then when it dries out, the eventual fires burn hotter and spread faster.
@SupraMario is kind of correct, but the issue isn't exactly controlled burns.
We're just really good at fighting fires these days. In BC at least, there used to be massive forest fires that would clear out tons of the built up fuel, the fuel density of forests was a self-correcting problem.
Forest fire crews will let fires burn where they can, but there's not a lot of unoccupied space where that's an option anymore. I don't think there's really a better option than doing what we're doing now.
With regards to the fires, I agree there's probably not. With regards to the climate, we should be doing so much more - but reducing our lifestyles is not a pill to big for most to swallow.
I don't think there's really a better option than doing what we're doing now.
With regards to the fires, I agree there's probably not.
With regards to the climate, we should be doing so much more - but reducing our lifestyles is not a pill to big for most to swallow.
The air quality map is pretty nuts: https://fire.airnow.gov/
Whole swathes of the country just covered in smoke.
I also like to check https://firesmoke.ca whenever I want to go out in Canada. Flying to Montreal next week and hoping things get better soon :(
From the article (a couple days old, but seems like a good overview):
[...]
[...]
[...]
I'm in the Appalachian mountains in Virginia right now and the haze is crazy. Been seeing some impact on cardio in hikers lately, even if it's not super smokey it takes its toll.
AQI of 250 here in the Chicago area the past couple of days. Very unpleasant to be outside :(
Northwestern Michigan has been under a pall of smoke for days. I woke up Tuesday morning, saw the fog outside (fog! In June!), smelled smoke. A groggy part of my brain did the alarmed "what's burning, do I need to gather the spouse, cats, and run away screaming?" dance. Then the dull, despairing "oh, it's Canada" realization hit me.
It's been burning eyes, wheezing, and exhaustion from the effort to breathe kind of bad ever since.
The smell isn't so intense down here in A2, but there's a definite haze on everything. I've got the house sealed up and running the fan occasionally even if I don't need the AC just to try and keep the air filtered. Considering buying an air purifier, especially since this is just the beginning of fire season.
I don't notice the smoke smell right now; we're just keeping the windows closed and I'm staying indoors as much as possible.
In theory, the composite AQI for the area is down to "moderate" risk, under 100. But Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (don't get me started on that bit of dishonest rebranding) has no official monitoring stations within 50 - 75 miles.
There's a real-time global map sponsored by the World Air Quality Project which supplements official data with a network of private stations. Local AQI is actually well into the unhealthy range, around 170 currently.
My Shadow Weather app seems to mostly agree (165) with the World AQ site (185). So it's confirmed : it's crap outside.
In other news, I remembered I already had a pair of HEPA air purifiers stashed in a closet, so now they're humming along. Do the filters need replaced? Who knows, but it's probably better than nothing.
HEPA filters are awesome for general allergy management if you've got central air circulation. They do put strain on the furnace/AC blower, so you'll need to check them monthly. If the filter is visibly very dirty, replace it immediately or you can wind up with noticeably reduced air circulation and/or a blower motor replacement.
I'm in Ontario and it's been awful the last couple of days. It's been raining and muggy and I thought at first it was a haze from the humidity, but when I stepped outside it smelled like burning plastic. Today is better, but it's been really bad this week, I've never seen it this bad before.
And this stuff is not going to get any better any time soon :(
Summers used to be fun.
They need to start to do controlled burns again. This is going from one extreme to the next. Nature has always refreshed itself and one of the major ways was fire. When humans got involved and started keeping everything from burning, we get these massive buildups and now climate change and it's a damn powder keg.
Exactly: we need to spend more money on maintaining and improving ecosystem health!
I'm a biologist, and speaking from my own experience: there's just not a ton of open jobs out there for folks who want to monitor and preserve/improve forest health. Agencies (at least in the USA) just don't have the money to properly staff and equip the folks who are ostensibly responsible for caring for the environment IMHO. They're doing the best they can, but it's not cheap!
Another semi-tangential example: over my whole career (so far) it's been a struggle to get funding for "basic" research. I was trained as an ecologist, so I cut my teeth on learning what environmental cues elicit reproduction in an array of species...so while things like that aren't directly protecting our ecosystem health, it's one of myriad puzzle pieces that help us understand the threat these problems pose, and (hopefully) inspires people to protect even "mundane" species that are far more interesting than might be suspected.
End rant.
The town I live in had a wildfire rip through and destroy over 2000 homes and businesses. Since then they’ve definitely ramped up the effort at doing controlled burns and clearing out dense understory vegetation. It takes a huge amount of work though and the work is slow. But you can tell the difference between areas that have been treated and areas that are still covered in downed logs, sticks and groundcover. I hope it’s enough but also would love to see more of that kind of work all over the state (Oregon) and country. We really need to bite the bullet and deal with occasional controlled burn smoke.
Yep, this is the spend a little in the short term or lose a lot in the long term. 2000 homes and businesses are millions of dollars worth of damage (if not more) and could have been prevented with probably 1/2 that with having proper agencies to do controlled burns and make sure these fires which will happen, happen under our control.
I don't think the problem is a lack of controlled burns, it's the climate becoming more extreme with larger time period between rains - causing the terrain to become increasingly dry which makes it easier for forests to catch fire.
Controlled burns would probably minimize this, but there would still be an increase in forest fires simply because there is more time that the conditions favor fires than before.
We should probably invest in air purifiers and the companies that make them - though I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the HFT people have already figured this out and are STFU about it and just buying stock.
Rambling on - I sometimes do wonder if HFT traders have more insight into world trends than most, but keep quiet as to not ruin their trading advantage.
The money that can be gained by knowing, even slightly, the future is unmistakable, and such an advantage is worth so much that it would be easy to keep quiet.
That's definitely part of it, although funnily enough the inverse is also true. Sometimes the worst fire seasons start out as a really wet May/June which produces a lot of underbrush. Then when it dries out, the eventual fires burn hotter and spread faster.
@SupraMario is kind of correct, but the issue isn't exactly controlled burns.
We're just really good at fighting fires these days. In BC at least, there used to be massive forest fires that would clear out tons of the built up fuel, the fuel density of forests was a self-correcting problem.
Forest fire crews will let fires burn where they can, but there's not a lot of unoccupied space where that's an option anymore. I don't think there's really a better option than doing what we're doing now.
With regards to the fires, I agree there's probably not.
With regards to the climate, we should be doing so much more - but reducing our lifestyles is not a pill to big for most to swallow.