Canada's 2023 Wildfire Smoke Reaches Europe, Dangerous Air Quality Recorded

Thick bands of soot and smoke particles from the wildfires of Canada, which have been burning for weeks, have been observed in some parts of Europe.

This as Canada faces its worst wildfire season on record, with at least 19 million acres of land have burned.

Smoke from wildfires in Canada has drifted right across the Atlantic Ocean and is now evident on satellite imagery across western Europe

🌅 Whilst the smoke is high up in the atmosphere, it may make for some vivid sunrises and sunsets in the next few days pic.twitter.com/VSBPx0jH5n
— Met Office (@metoffice) June 26, 2023

The Met Office, the UK's national weather service, reported that smoke raging from Canada wildfire has reached western Europe.

Smokes passing through Atlantic Ocean

The smoke traveled across the Atlantic Ocean via the jet stream, a band of strong wind that generally blows from west to east across the globe, according to a report in Accuweather.

However, this will not lead to any significant negative effect on air quality as the smoke seems to be higher in the air at 1,100 meters (3,609 feet) and above.

"There can be enhanced sunrises and sunsets, along with hazy skies across parts of Portugal and Spain over the next few days," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Alyssa Glenny.

"There also appears to be some higher atmosphere smoke over Ireland and southern England, but it will likely be less noticeable near the ground there, due to cloudiness," she added.

But this is not the case in the United States, where the skies have dimmed and the air quality has been reduced.

Air quality alerts from the National Weather Service have been issued across the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Delaware, and Maryland, as well as parts of Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia, as reported by CNN.

As of this writing, Detroit and Chicago are among the cities with the worst air quality in the world, with unhealthy to very unhealthy Air Quality index of 235 and 167, respectively, according to Swiss air quality technology company IQAir.

Meanwhile, Toronto, Canada, ranked fourth with a 158 air index.

Read Also: Canada Wildfire Smoke Clearing Up Along US East Coast, Extreme Heat Danger An Emerging Threat: Meteorologists

Out of control fires

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there are 487 active fires in the country, of which 273 are out of control. Quebec has the highest number of active fires.

On Tuesday, 20 new fires were recorded. This year's wildfire season has exceeded the previous benchmark set in 1989, when at least 18 million acres were burned.

Data from CIFFF shows that an average of 330,000 acres of land have been burned daily across Canada since May 1.

"When the 2023 wildfire season is over, it will obliterate all other years in terms of area burned, since we still have July, August, September, and October to go," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and Canada Weather Expert Brett Anderson.

Anderson added that some wildfires in Canada are caused by lightning, while human-caused fires are declining.

He said fires had been occurring earlier in the year across Canada in part due to climate change, due to the reduced snowpack and earlier spring thaws, which is exposing ground fuels earlier in the season.

The Canadian government has declared a "national preparedness level 5" to address the increasing number of wildfires, according to a report in CBS News.

It added that firefighters from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa would help in combatting the blaze.

Related Article: Canada Wildfire Smoke: Unhealthy Air Quality Affects Chicago, Minneapolis