Current Events > Wildfires in Canada

(+) Yeah! (+)

I normally do not post topics myself, but this is an interesting phenomenon that I have never experienced in my life until now. I've known of the wildfires in California and along the west coast. I've known there to be wildfires in Canada before. However, I have never seen such far-reaching consequences of such. As this board is "Current Events" and this is indeed a current event, I figured I would bring it up, that it has more place being discussed than topics like "Check out this chick!"

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna87732

Millions of people in the eastern United States faced unhealthy air quality conditions on Tuesday, as smoke from wildfires in eastern Canada wafts over much of the country.

An air quality advisory was in effect for several regions of New York state on Tuesday. Air monitoring stations on Tuesday afternoon in some parts of New York City showed measures considered unhealthy for anyone.

It marked the second day that hazy skies across a wide swath of the country. Smoke blanketed the landscape from the Ohio Valley to as far south as the Carolinas on Monday. Air quality advisories were in effect Monday in southeastern Minnesota and parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as well as in more than 60 counties in Wisconsin on Monday.

The spike in air pollution comes from wildfires that have been raging in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia. `

A band of smoke from wildfires in Quebec will continue to linger across east central and southeast Minnesota today due to very light winds, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency tweeted Monday, adding that air quality should improve in the evening as thunderstorms help disperse smoke particles from the air.

Canada is experiencing one of the worst starts to its wildfire season ever recorded. More than 6.7 million acres in the country have already burned in 2023, federal officials said last week.

In Quebec, around 14,000 people were forced to evacuate, and more than 150 fires are still ablaze in the province, according to CBC News. Further east, in Nova Scotia, officials said Sunday that one wildfire had been contained but a second, covering nearly 100 square miles, was still burning out of control, The Associated Press reported.

In recent days, smoke from the fires has been drifting over the northeastern United States and settling across the Midwest. Alerts warning of elevated concentrations of air pollution were issued across the regions particularly for sensitive groups that include children, older adults, and people with asthma and other pre-existing respiratory conditions.

Air pollution from wildfire smoke has become a significant health risk in the U.S. and is growing worse. Stanford University researchers found that the number of people who experienced at least one day with unhealthy air quality because of smoke rose by 27 times over the last decade.

Small particles in smoke that are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter about 4% of the diameter of an average human hair are of particular concern to air quality researchers.

These are the particles that are small enough to breathe in and can cause cardiovascular issues, said Brett Palm, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

Exposure to this kind of pollution can cause inflammation and weaken the immune system, particularly when the tiny particles penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Particulate pollution may increase risk of asthma, lung cancer or other chronic lung diseases, particularly in vulnerable groups like older people, pregnant people, infants and children.

Wildfire smoke exposure might increase the risk of respiratory disease. Increases of Covid-19 and influenza have also been linked to wildfire smoke.

Palm said the situation unfolding in the Midwest highlights the longer-term risks of wildfires, particularly as climate change creates warmer and drier conditions that make these blazes more likely to occur and more severe when they do.

Over the last decade or so, these fires have been increasing and are having increasing impacts not just where the fires are, but far downwind from there, he said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency along with partner agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA maintains an interactive map of air quality data called AirNow that allows users to see the locations of active fires and assess local conditions and risks.

TL;DR - Canada is having the worst start to wildfire season in its history and the smoke from said fires is mixing with the jetstream and dissipating all along the Atlantic seaboard, where increased toxins are being felt even as far south as the Carolinas and throughout the Mid-West and North Atlantic states and provinces. Air quality measurements for large swaths of some of the most populated areas within the US and Canada are in the Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, and Hazardous regions of the Air Quality Index, which means potential impacts to health.

For those in the impacted zones (like myself), stay safe, don't over exert yourself, and try to stay some place with filtered air. For those in the paths of the wildfires, please be safe and evacuate if you feel you are in harm's path or directed to by any officials.

Wildfire haze here in northeast PA. Hope folks are staying safe up north.

RIP me

*blames Canada*

we're so fucked

The entire continent is going to burn

Western Canadian wildfires have been affecting the upper Midwest for years now

There's wildfires every year. It happens in nature. People often cause wild fires.

Yeah, there's been a lot of haze in DC, and not for the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7jlFZhprU4

AnsestralRecall posted...

Western Canadian wildfires have been affecting the upper Midwest for years now

That's why I point out in the "TL;DR" of the opening post that it is common elsewhere, but not common to affect some of the largest population centers of the mid-west and Atlantic sea board. Places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, Nashville, Indianapolis, Columbus, Raleigh, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, and more.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYqwiJB5Gpvb_oz_GM6JjlHqCcoCsbwYohXA&usqp=CAU

https://cmg-cmg-tv-10040-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/tJf0n_XouSgHo5KRsgpPuZP1Uxg=/1440x810/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/PHEXQK7YTSFBCNOCHZ7GRPKWGA.jpeg

Comparison images of a map of North America at night (first link) and the impact zone of the current smoke (second link). That's why I bring it up. Not saying it's not common elsewhere, just stating it's not common in that particular bubble of population density along the Atlantic and Mid-west together.

no escape from climate change

I live in New York and the sky is yellow outside, the air smells terrible. x.x

itachi15243 posted...

I live in New York and the sky is yellow outside, the air smells terrible. x.x

welcome to my life the last four weeks.

Jeez, that map is ridiculous

MedeaLysistrata posted...

no escape from climate change

Another reason why I bring it up.

Back on 261, people in the eastern half of Canada/US would often bring up "sucks to live on the west coast with those wildfires, but what do you expect?" This is just a perfect example how nowhere is "safe."

I follow a couple of YT'ers that are in Canada and this is the worst I've ever seen up there. One in BC already had to evacuate.

modena posted...

I follow a couple of YT'ers that are in Canada and this is the worst I've ever seen up there. One in BC already had to evacuate.

Similarly, I was talking with a friend of mine who lives along the New York/Canada border. She has friends who live in Nova Scotia and they had to abandon their home.

assboobsgames posted...

There's wildfires every year. It happens in nature. People often cause wild fires.

They're getting worse.

They're getting worse.

They're happening in more places.

They're starting earlier in the year.

They're burning longer.

They're ending later in the year.

There's less rain in the fall, less snow in the winter, and less rain in the spring so things stay dry year-to-year.

It's all just a recipe for disaster.

Im in CT and its hazy today and you can smell the hint of smoke in the air. My kids say the school nurse was swamped with all the kids not feeling well because of it.

Hopefully we sue Canada for excess pollution

It's been fluctuating all day, but it's gotten worse in the past hour or two. Yankees triple-A squad was cancelled here in Scranton.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/3/1/AABTRZAAEizb.jpg

As a Canadian I'm happy that we are getting to enjoy a nice big bonfire instead of letting the trees get clear cut and shipped off to China. Win-win!

yeah when the Woolsey Fire was going on over here, i remember staying inside a lot because the AQI 300+. not to mention the fire started on the old Rocketdyne property, which i whole other thing.

MrCokeacola posted...

As a Canadian I'm happy that we are getting to enjoy a nice big bonfire instead of letting the trees get clear cut and shipped off to China. Win-win!

As a Canadian... wtf?

I'm on Long Island and it's like Silent Hill on Mars.

Sir_Will posted...

As a Canadian... wtf?

he's probably high and thought that the post was a good idea.

That's horrible. Over here in WA when the wildfires ramp up the smoke can get so bad sunsets just look like a glowing red marble sinking past the horizon.

I'm in southern Ontario and i dont think I've ever seen smoke from a wildfire settle over my city before. I went out thus afternoon and it looked foggy and cloudy even though it was sunny, and I could smell the smoke in the air. It was kind of surreal.

Smells like camping.

Thats what I was thinking, Canadian wildfires seems to be on the uptick correct, zi dont recall hearing about wildfires from Canada when I was younger

NYC mood: Post-apocalyptic hellscape

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/9/4/AADbVYAAEi1-.jpg

And it's still getting worse through midnight tomorrow

assboobsgames posted...

Smells like camping.

Finally someone who gets it.