Photos: Satellite imagery shows western Canada covered in a solid blanket of wildfire smoke (2023)

FAQs

What was the lived experience of a record wildfire season in the Northwest Territories Canada? ›

Interviewees reported how their experiences of evacuation and isolation as well as feelings of fear, stress, and uncertainty contributed to acute and long-term negative impacts for their mental and emotional well-being. Prolonged smoke events were linked to extended time indoors and respiratory problems.

While the path of smoke is highly dependent on the weather, the smoke itself can also change the weather. For example, tiny particles called aerosols that are lofted into the atmosphere as a fire burns can affect cloud formation and precipitation.

Particles smaller than visible light wavelengths scatter short wavelengths (e.g. blue light) much more strongly than long wavelengths (red). This is known as Rayleigh scattering, named for Lord Rayleigh in the 19th century, who derived the small particle limit.

The Chinchaga Fire started in logging slash in British Columbia, Canada, on 1 June 1950 that grew out of control and ended five months later on 31 October in Alberta; in that time, it burned approximately 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of boreal forest.

Lytton, the Canadian village that hit a record 121 degrees, has 'burnt down' in flash wildfire. Lytton, a town in British Columbia about 95 miles northeast of Vancouver, set and broke successive Canadian heat records for three consecutive days this week, topping out at a scorching 121.2 degrees on Tuesday.

Lightning activity causes approximately 60% of all wildfires every season. What are the consequences of starting a human-caused wildfire in B.C.? When a wildfire is determined to be human-caused, natural resource officers investigate to assess whether the incident was the result of illegal activities.

“The health impact of air pollution from wildfires has not been well studied, but the evidence from our recent studies suggests that short-term exposure to wildfire air pollution can affect the skin and cause flares of certain skin disorders,” said board-certified dermatologist Maria Wei, MD, PhD, FAAD, who is a ...

Particle pollution represents a main component of wildfire smoke and the principal public health threat. “Particle pollution” (also referred to as particles, particulate matter, or PM) is a general term for a mixture of solid and liquid droplets suspended in the air.

Dense wildfire smoke can temporarily block sunlight near the ground, causing regional temperatures to drop by several degrees.

Should you cover your mouth in a fire? ›

If possible, cover mouth with a cloth to avoid inhaling smoke and gases. Once outside, go to your building's Emergency Assembly Area, tell those in charge there that you are out of the building, and report injured or trapped persons and any signs of building damage you observed.

Wildfire smoke can hang in the atmosphere for days, weeks or depending on how long the fires burn. One reason it's able to do that is because the superheated smoke and ash rising into the air can trigger events, or fire-induced thunderstorms.

Smoke particles are much larger than gas molecules, and instead better scatter the long wavelengths of red light. This is known as Mie scattering. When particle concentrations get really high, Mie scattering can dominate over Rayleigh scattering meaning we see the daytime sky as red rather than blue.

This means the light gets scattered farther by particles within the atmosphere. Particles can be dust, smoke from wildfires, or pollution. Those particles in the atmosphere tend to scatter blue light (shorter wavelengths) and allow red light (longer wavelengths) to pass through.

When the weather is dry and smoke is high in the atmosphere, Phillips says smoke particles block the shorter wavelengths of light from reaching the ground. Blue and green colours are shorter wavelengths than red and orange, Phillips said, meaning people see the longer wavelengths of light that make it through the haze.

Blue flames are the hottest, followed by white. After that, yellow, orange and red are the common colours you'll see in most fires.

The hottest flame ever produced was at 4990° Celsius. This fire was formed using dicyanoacetylene as fuel and ozone as the oxidizer. Cool fire may also be made.

At least 1,782 people were killed, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time. It released the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ).

These new reports in Science add to the growing body of evidence showing that such rapid temperature shifts can result in wildfires capable of rapidly devastating the Arctic landscape. Earlier this year, a study found the Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.

Where was the coldest temperature ever recorded in Canada? ›

Lowest temperature readings

The coldest place in Canada based on average yearly temperature is Eureka, Nunavut, where the temperature averages at −19.7 °C or −3.5 °F for the year. However, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Canada was −63.0 °C or −81.4 °F in Snag, Yukon.

In Canada, wildfires or forest fires are common in forested and grassland regions from May to September, which can cause extensive damage and put lives in danger.

British Columbia saw the largest number of forest fires in Canada in 2021.

But how did wildfires start in Canada in mid-May, and how did the smoke from them seep all the way down into Colorado? As you might've guessed, the wildfires that mostly sparked in early May started during an exceptionally warm and windy stretch for that region.

Wildfire Smoke & Hair

“Particulate matter (dust, dirt, soot, smoke) can cause irritation and damage that results in hair dryness, breakage, and an irritated scalp,” says Dr. Craig Ziering, a board-certified dermatologist, hair transplantation surgeon, and restoration specialist.

Impact of smoking on your hair

Reduced circulation of blood around the body can mean the hair and hair follicles aren't getting the oxygen and nutrients they need to grow healthily. Smoking damages DNA, which can also affect the hair follicles - damaging the hair at the root and the hair growth cycle.

Your skin recovers its elasticity when you stop smoking. It will also be smoother, making it more pleasant to look at and touch. Your skin complexion will become visibly brighter in the first few weeks after you stop smoking. After six months, your skin will regain its original vitality.

It is dangerous to sleep in a house after a fire, regardless of how small or big the fire was. The main source of danger during fire outbreaks is smoke, and smoke is usually produced whether the fire is localized or spread to the entire house.

Dear Almond: Actually, it disappears faster when it's warm — but you're not crazy if you think it's easier to get away with smoking outside or in a garage when it's cold out. Odor molecules move more slowly as the air gets colder, so your nose doesn't pick up as much activity during the winter.

Is it better to cold smoke or hot smoke? ›

Basically, cold smoking imparts a flavour to your food, but doesn't fully cook it; hot smoking means you are cooking and flavouring at the same time. “The reason behind cold smoking is preservation by drying and also the smoke particles are antibacterial.”

Tobacco constricts blood vessels, causing the feeling of cold extremities. Because of this effect, smokers often say that their hands and feet are always cold.

If you don't have a pan lid nearby, you can use a wet rag or towel to smother the fire. If you choose this method, make sure your rag is damp, not soaking wet, and also make sure the cloth is thick enough so it won't catch on fire too.

If you can grab a piece of clothing or a towel, place it over your mouth to keep from breathing in the smoke. This works even better if you wet the cloth first.

Using wet material such as a towel or handkerchief actually reduced the effectiveness or filtering from vapors. In addition, wet materials are more difficult to breathe through. Placing a wet towel at the bottom of a door or window provides no protection against vapors entering a room.

THE ANSWER. Yes, air conditioners can filter out wildfire smoke from within your home, if you use high enough grade filters and replace them frequently.

Window AC units do filter smoke, but only if it is already inside your home. Portable Air Conditioning: Some portable air conditioners—single hose portable ACs—work like a combination of a window unit and central air. The unit sits inside your home, and uses a fan to draw in air like a window AC.

The best way to prevent breathing harmful particles in wildfire smoke is to stay indoors. When air quality reaches dangerous levels due to wildfire smoke, the most effective way to reduce exposure and avoid the ill effects of smoke is to stay indoors with windows and doors closed.

Black fire is a phrase used to describe smoke that is of high volume, turbulent velocity, ultra-dense and black. Black fire is a sure sign of impending auto-ignition and flashover.

Blue Exhaust Smoke

If you are noticing blue smoke from the exhaust, it means your engine is burning oil due to an oil leak. This symptom could be the result of a leaking valve seal or a problem with a piston ring.

What does grey smoke mean in a fire? ›

White or light gray smoke is usually associated with paper, straw, leaves, or wood. It is formed of pyrolysis products (gasses, liquids, and tars) that condense to form a fog of tiny droplets that bypass the flame.

A red sky appears when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure. This scatters blue light leaving only red light to give the sky its notable appearance. A red sky at sunset means high pressure is moving in from the west, so therefore the next day will usually be dry and pleasant.

In the Bible, (Matthew XVI: 2-3,) Jesus said, “When in evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: For the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today; for the sky is red and lowering.” Weather lore has been around since people needed to predict the weather and plan their activities.

The Short Answer:

Sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered more than the other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.

That's what the filters do. At sunrise and sunset, the Sun can look especially orange to our eyes. That's because, at those times of day, its light has to travel through a lot of the Earth's atmosphere (the layer of swirling air that surrounds our planet).

During a lunar eclipse, the Moon turns red because the only sunlight reaching the Moon passes through Earth's atmosphere. The more dust or clouds in Earth's atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the Moon will appear. It's as if all the world's sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon.

The moon is fully in Earth's shadow. At the same time, a little bit of light from Earth's sunrises and sunsets (on the disk of the planet) falls on the surface of the moon. Because the light waves are stretched out, they look red. When this red light strikes the moon's surface, it also appears red.

The 2022 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires burning throughout the U.S. state of California. By the end of the year, a total of 7,667 fires had been recorded, totaling approximately 363,939 acres (147,281 hectares) across the state.

The Peshtigo fire was a large forest fire on October 8, 1871, in northeastern Wisconsin, United States, including much of the southern half of the Door Peninsula and adjacent parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The biggest wildfire in recorded US history is the 1825 Miramichi Fire. It blazed through an estimated 3,000,000 million acres and claimed at least 160 lives.

How many on average wildfires burn in Canada in a normal year? ›

There are roughly 8,000 wildfires in Canada each year. Densely forested areas across much of Canada are at risk of wildfires, particularly during dry conditions and drought.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, California leads the country with the most wildfires and number of acres burned. California-specific charts below on the Top 10 largest, most destructive, and deadliest wildfires.

The 1871 Peshtigo Fire, Wisconsin

The blaze started on October 8 1871 and burned around 1.2 million acres. At least 1 152 people were killed, making this the worst fire that claimed more lives than any of the other wildfires in US history.

Wildfires are most common from July to October, but California is seeing fires break out as early as the beginning of May.

90 percent of wildfires are human-caused, but climate change isn't helping. OREGON & CALIFORNIA — Ninety percent of wildfires are human-caused, but according to local scientists in Oregon, climate change is not helping and is exacerbating the historic fire and weather events that we continue to see year after year.

On October 8, 1871, the most devastating forest fire in American history swept through northeast Wisconsin, claiming 1200+ lives. [For more about the Peshtigo fire, click here.]

Home Fire Basics

The most common causes overall include leaving your hot stove or burning candles unattended, or failing to butt out a cigarette.

California is the most wildfire-prone state in the United States. In 2021, over 9,000 individual wildfires burned in the Southwestern state ravishing nearly 2.23 million acres. California accounted for roughly 31 percent of all acres burned due to wildland fires in the U.S.

What months in Canada are most likely to experience a wildfire? ›

In Canada, wildfires or forest fires are common in forested and grassland regions from May to September, which can cause extensive damage and put lives in danger.