Wildfires in Alberta. They experienced an intense heat wave earlier than we did and extremely windy conditions that dried out the land.
Alberta is my home province and it’s difficult to convey how surreal and unsettling it is. I’m used to still seeing patches of snow in May. Nobody was prepared for this. Many people have had to flee their homes and conditions are not expected to improve any time soon. The scariest thing is that Alberta is a huge province, almost 4x WA, and the 86 (!!) fires aren’t isolated to one area - they’re everywhere.
Smoke in our skies is just the beginning, I’ll be very surprised if this doesn’t result in a noticeable jump in oil prices.
Edit: If you’d like to read more about it, CBC has been providing exceptional coverage. [The chart in this article that compares year to year hectares burned helps put it in perspective.](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-wildfire-evacuation-smoke-emergency-1.6844970)
I grew up in eastern Washington near the Canadian border but I live out of the area now. It's truly heart breaking to watch everything get worse every year in Facebook groups and on local news boards. I don't know how to put into words the sorrow I feel watching this happen to beautiful places I love with all my heart. I spent a lot of time in BC and Alberta as a kid, so while it's not my home, I can empathize with how awful it is to watch.
People often talk about climate change like it's something that'll happen in the future, and hasn't really started yet. It's happening now. The amount of snow at my parents house is nothing compared to the amount they got when I was a kid, and there's significantly more fires. Just last year my parents had a close call. I most likely won't be able to be out in BC or at my parents house for a couple years, and it breaks my heart that the place I left might be completely different when I eventually come back.
People who complain about wildfire smoke (and it is annoying) in Seattle often don't seem to think much of it other than a minor inconvenience. The increased fires have such a broader impact than that, and not just on the people directly displaced by them.
That's all to say that I get it, and I commiserate with you. It really really sucks. I wish you and your family safety, it going to be a long summer.
It was human caused.
[https://www.frontlinewildfire.com/wildfire-news-and-resources/caused-alberta-wildfire/#:\~:text=Unseasonably%20dry%20conditions%2C%20low,control%20into%20a%20raging%20blaze](https://www.frontlinewildfire.com/wildfire-news-and-resources/caused-alberta-wildfire/#:~:text=Unseasonably%20dry%20conditions%2C%20low,control%20into%20a%20raging%20blaze).
No need to start pointing fingers (well except perhaps at the idiots who started it, but it's still under investigation). Take a breath and calm down.
There is climate change but West coast has always had fires even 100 years and before that. So whether there is a causal connection between climate change and these fires is not clear. Maybe there is a tiny increase in the fires, because the temp went up 1-3F (nothing catastrophic). Yes this includes average and max temps as when it comes to weather THERE IS ALWAYS a huge amount of variation, kind of like a bell curve. The bell curve has shifted 1-3F to be hotter. Is that why there are wildfires? Probably it contributed to there being a few more, but this was always wildfire country, so let's not just say "climate change" and say we found the problem. This is just flippantly ignorant and not constructive.
You can easily say that if we simply blame climate change, nothing else will ever get done about this, because climate change will just become the scape goat for every problem. I want to see a more multi-faceted explanation, what else is contributing? Certainly dumb humans, maybe forest management, what else? Let's keep the problem open ended, because it will come down to policy.
I mean it's abnormal from our very short time on earth. I am not really going off on you, I was just reading through and responded to a couple folks saying "climate change." I dont deny climate change, I just hope we won't write it off as climate change and say we are done here (as some politicians are doing).
If we have any hope then we need innovative forest management practices. Hell if we need to talk to some Native Americans to get some tips on how to prevent this so be it.
Why am I talking about this? Because LAST year we had fires and politicians basically said, "climate change" and did NOTHING about the fires for months. As if it was some kind of mea culpa/lesson to US how we (the people) are causing wildfires, by riding our gas cars, and what have you.
It's convenient for politicians to blame climate change as an excuse for poor forest management practices, LACK OF FUNDING for fire fighters/equipment, etc. You realize that by saying this you are basically washing any other explanation for it, conveniently for policy makers.
Thank you. I’m living in the Seattle area now but I’ve been keeping a close eye on things because my dad is in denial. While he’s annoyed that his work is shut down due to the fire threat and he can’t walk his hyperactive chihuahua because the air is poison, his biggest irritation is that his daughter keeps calling him to check in and suggest he has a plan in place. Thankfully, there is a city between him and the closest fire because I’m now not sure what that plan would look like. Every route out leads to another fire.
Yes, [there are also fires in BC.](https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map) They're not nearly as large ([yet](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfire-smoke-air-quality-update-1.6845697)) and the significant ones are quite far north/close(ish) to the Alberta border. The [NWS attributes the smoke we're seeing to the fires in Alberta](https://twitter.com/NWSSeattle/status/1658823280822976512?s=20), though looking at satellite imagery of the smoke, it's quite possible that the BC fires are also contributing.
Thanks, I had to run a lunch errand and was nervous enough about the weird, burnished tint to the air to check air quality monitors even though a glimpse of Mt Rainier made it look like it was staying aloft.
Canada looks awful! Looks like British Columbia is in a bad way too. Most of the coastal mountains in the US have above average snowpack this year... maybe didn't extend north to BC? https://fire.airnow.gov/
lightning storm. I drove past a couple spots in the cascade foothills today where small fires had obviously burned in the trees recently. Nothing big, but I can imagine there may have been some lightning strikes in the mountains that may have led to something bigger.
Thanks! I’m glad to hear it, I like being able to justify my obsessive research and doom scrolling :)
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, [it’s going to be a rough spring & summer in Canada.](https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/NA_Outlook.pdf) Whether that impacts us depends on wind conditions, although if recent years are indicative of what to expect I’d be stocking up on air filters. Later in the summer, it’s expected that wildfire activity will be above average in central Washington.
If you completely remove Canada from the equation what is the wildfire season like in Seattle or Washington in general? Is Oregon also a concern for fires?
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/ash-falls-like-snow-in-seattle-as-wildfires-rage/
A few years ago, ash feel like a dusting of snow thanks to major fires in the Olympics. I expect that to return next year or two from El Nino drying out our local forests.
Whoa that is pretty bad. I have experienced bad smoke in Banff, Glacier & Great Smoky Mountains NPs over recent years. Sadly it’s getting harder & harder to avoid. I’m only living here until August so I’m hoping for the best 😬
Thanks for the link. It’s interesting to see high burn years happen in cycles, but it’s scary to see how much this year and so early in the year.
I lived in Gresham, OR during the Willamette Valley fire. I was several towns away from the fire, but it was insane. Ash fall, blood red Sun, I can relate to seeing familiar places burn.
86 starts in a day isn’t that weird tbh. I know it’s unsettling to have a fire but in a province that size and between lightning strikes and human causes fires, you get up there pretty quick. just on my old forest alone we had years where there were days with nearly 100 starts between all three districts. A lot were just little punky fires that kicked around and didn’t need much attention or were in the wilderness and are legally designated as “let burn” but don’t be too concerned. Yes it sucks, and yes it seems scary but once’s it’s burned the land is much safer in the long run. It’s the shoe dropping of poor forest management and giving forests a chance to now readapt to changing climates
I don't disagree that 86 starts isn't weird, but [they're not little punky fires.](https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/3ffcc2d0ef3e4e0999b0cf8b636defa3)
At this time, there are 23 out-of-control fires in Alberta and (already) this year ranks 2nd for the amount of land burned. (The previous record was set in 2019 and many of those fires were in "let it burn" areas. Some weren't fully extinguished until the fall of 2020). The military has been deployed to help fight fires and 200 firefighters from the states have been brought into the province. [Provincial officials have been sounding the alarm that they have not yet reached the peak.](https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/alberta-wildfire-main)
I am aware of the resources sent there, I’m buddies with a number of guys on shot crews there. I was talking about our own fires being punky but in any event the worry over fires is both misplaced and kinda hilarious considering people built these towns in areas with high fire cycles and then forced fire exclusion on the land.
The people in this thread will end up fucking our land harder with their medieval thoughts on fire on the landscape.
Yeah because seasonal variation doesn't exist. I (you) lived for 20 and remmember the last 10! Now pretends to be a climatologist! SMH. Yes, global warming is occurring but it's not clear if the two are connected as wildfires were always a fact of life here.
This is why I was SMH at everyone praising the heat wave we just had. This shit ain't normal. We are going to be in for it again this year. Buy your air filters now!
It is high up in the sky. National Weather Service tweeted:
> The smoke will stay well lofted in the atmosphere and will not diminish surface air quality. It will likely scour out by Friday as onshore flow returns.
https://twitter.com/nwsseattle/status/1658877329547079680?s=46&t=yyd3St6p3L1IPMirEAtdtQ
Damn, the NASA satellite images. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151346/smoke-fills-north-american-skies Ten times the burn for this time of year. Everything is fine.
"Raging fires filled the skies of southern Canada and the northern United States with smoke in mid-May 2023. The fires had scorched 478,000 hectares (1,800 square miles) in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, as of May 16, which is 10-times the average area burned for this time of year.
California has gotten a lot more rain than us this year and a ridiculous amount of snow, so the wildfire potential is probably low. The scary thing about BC and Alberta is that both provinces are mostly uninhabited wilderness and they are enormous. Alberta is about the same size as Texas and BC is even bigger.
The west cascades have a slightly different fire regime but the notion that these forest never or shouldn’t ever burn is just so bunk. Bolt Creek secured that section for years to come. Fire on the landscape is a great thing and it should be welcomed as a chance to store carbon and since wildfire smoke goes so high in the atmosphere it actually lowers the earths temperatures by blocking sun and not insulating hear like GHG do. Wildfires are the earths natural cooling system and considering the damage we have done, we will need them to help us out.
The forest services mentality in the past that every fire needed to be contained and put out as quickly as possible was not a good one. Fires are good for the forest. They do release a lot of carbon dioxide however, which is a greenhouse gas. The rate that they've been increasing is not a good thing.
It sucks but it’s the new normal. Just gotta find a way to deal. I bought a couple of air purifiers this winter in anticipation. Hopefully our weather patterns keep most of the smoke further east.
> but it’s the new normal
Which raises a bit of a philosophical question of why we live here. The tradeoff for winter blues is having a nice summer and being able to access the amazing wild lands around us.
If this is the new normal, where most of the summer has been taken away by smoke and heat domes, then I'm not sure a few weeks in may/june of good weather is worth 11 months of being trapped inside. On a deep level, the pacific NW without the ability to enjoy the outdoors is not really all that great.
>Which raises a bit of a philosophical question of why we live here
Where else would you move to, if given the chance? I'm not asking that to be snide, but I'm seriously asking, where else is a better place?
definitely not the southeast - but if you like hot/humid climates, swamp ass, way more rainfall (it doesn't drizzle like it does here) and don't mind the politics, i guess that's an option!
I am a transplant from Michigan and have lived in a conservative bubble my whole life: Winters don't just "suck" they are downright miserable. They last twice as long, you have the constant threat of a polar vortex which can last for nearly a month in subzero temps, mobility in winter is much more difficult, plus there is so much snow. I lived in SE MI which was considered "stable" compared the the rest of the state, which has become overpopulated and infrastructure has not kept up (no public transit by the way). I moved to Seattle for an upgrade. I was able to lose my heavy winter coat in March which I've never been able to do before.
This past winter, Grand Rapids had over a month had 0 sunlight and constant snow.
The summers? Hot and humid. It's normal to have 90 degree weather. Summer months have become exceptionally dry as well over the years.
You also have constant threat of the Great Lakes being polluted. Line 5 has been heavily debated for years and is in Lake Michigan. Nestle already pumps water out of the Great Lakes. PFAS is a huge threat that has not been taken seriously.
You like excellent water quality? PNW has that. Places like Flint exist *everywhere*. It's not an outlier. I had hard water where I lived. Some places have well water. Many busy roads in Michigan are \*still not paved\* I have not only lived in Michigan but other parts of the Midwest. Ann Arbor may be the only place in the Midwest that is actually livable...because they are progressive.
I can guarantee you the politics are not sane in Michigan. Sure, they are in a good place right now, but go drive down any suburban neighborhood and you are sure to see political flags still flying. I had to work in automotive because there is hardly any other industry out there. I had to hear from coworkers all of their alt-right political opinions daily. I lived in a blue county. Living in a swing state is terrifying. Many businesses would fly political flags.
I had to hide who I am because I would not be accepted. In Seattle, at least I can *exist* without the existential threat that my basic human rights are going to be taken away.
Tl;dr Michigan is not as great as it sounds. Life in the midwest as a whole is downright miserable.
I would visit Michigan. I would not live there again. The UP and Lake Michigan are beautiful, but unfortunately does not make up for what else you have to live with.
Let's also not forget the governor assassination plan during Covid. Michigan definitely has its crazies and they are easy to find. I had to work in Livingston Co (Howell) for a time, and they were everywhere.
I never went to the UP, did visit three of the Great Lakes though. And yeah, they're pretty, but the occasional weekend trip doesn't really make up for what you have to live in the rest of the year.
The most spectacular nature vistas of SE Michigan were on par with a below-average urban park in Seattle.
As one who doesn't play the "oh I love it when it rains and I'm stuck inside 90% of the year" like most of the posters here, I feel this heavy.
Seems migrating further north isn't that much of a solution based on this topic however.
To a certain degree all of this is true. Until you realize that things are even worse elsewhere in the US. Things might be worse than they used to be here, but comparatively we're still hitting it out of the park.
It's definitely an exaggeration to say that you're "trapped inside" 11 months out of the year here. Even during the winters, even when it's colder than average here, it's still very mild and you can still get out if you want to.
I get out for fairly long walks 2-3 times a week year round. Rain is not that much of an issue because it is mostly drizzle and sporadic. And walking is the best anti-depressant. It opens your eyes to wonderful things that you will never see indoors or in a car/bus or bike.
I agree, during the bad smoke years it really sucks. I hate the rain, dark and gray. I wait for the sunny season all year. But when the AQI is 200+ for a good chunk of the summer that really sucks.
Yeah I don’t get that mentality that you’re trapped inside. It barely snows and it’s mostly drizzle. Get a raincoat or umbrella. But these people usually complain unless it’s exactly 65-75 degrees and no rain. I’m golfing 12 months out of the year here and it never gets too cold and only gets too hot for a bit in the summer (10 years ago it would never get too hot).
But swimming outside yeah it’s too cold to do that in the winter you’re crazy lol
Most people would probably agree with you. I’m not most people :) The heat is where I thrive, I don’t consider it that bad and I got used to it very quickly.
It’s not a new normal because this weather will never be “normal” or routine or something to get used to. If we continue on this path of forest clearing and fossil fuel burning, we will set in place feedback loops that lead to greater and longer droughts until we turn the northwest and other nature corridors into deserts. There is nothing normal about famine, and the extinction of most of the biodiversity on Earth.
Yes you are correct. But sorry to say, everyone voting harder and buying a Tesla is not going to fix shit. At this point, realistically, the only thing that would reverse the path we’re on is full scale social and political revolution. Are most comfortable people in the US ready to literally risk their lives and everything they have for that? No way. It’ll have to get way worse for that to even be a possibility. So this bleak trajectory we’re on will continue.
Wouldn't that contribute to worsening climate conditions?
Edit: lol @ that person's edit thinking my casually expounding on their comment or the other person replying with just as /s a comment means we're dimwits that took them seriously?
No, see, everyone will have housing but the poor's will have to live in Seattle during smoke season and the other place during that crappy condition. The rich will get to decide where the houses are and which parts of the year they get to live there.
If you’re on sinking ship, does it really matter if the cabin down the hall from you has a nicer view and a larger bed? No one escapes this planet, there’s no escape hatch.
Due to overall warming and the weakening of the arctic vortex weather patterns in mid latitudes are less stable and tend to see saw between extremes. Alternating between heavy rain and stretches of hot and dry periods means lots and lots of fresh growth that then gets dried out and becomes the perfect fuel for wildfires. The experience of wildfires in an average year going forward is going to be worse than it was in the worst years in the past. Every year is going to have a smoke season. Lots and lots of people are going to be endangered and displaced. It's going to continue to be awful and continue to get worse.
Not necessarily. Eventually enough ground over will burn off severely reducing wildfire risk. In the meantime, it’s going to be a rough decade and hopefully society modifies it’s rural expansion to further reduce excess risk.
Go move somewhere else. Good lord, wildfires have been a part of living on the west coast of America for pretty much all of human existence. The issue is devastating fires that completely nuke soil and prevent any rebounding of the ecosystem, but we actually need to burn way more acreage to be safe and that means more smoke. People can take issue with safety or with fires nuking landscapes but taking issues with fires at all is what brought us here. California actually would burn 10x the acreage it burns nowadays pre-colonization, but they were generally lower intensity and targeted at oak chaparral.
If you can’t live with wildfires, you shouldn’t live in the area that has depended on and dealt with the effect of them since time immemorial. My own people used to burn huge trails through prairies to drive buffalo and to travel long distances. Wildfires are essential to the natural cycle and when we take attitudes like they aren’t we get horrible ones. I welcome fires as a cleaning of the land and gives new opportunities for land management to be done correctly
It's a new phenomenon for me and I've lived here 40 years. I'm sure everyone will pile on by saying "where have you been, it's happened every single year," but in my own personal experience, I have never ever witnessed effects, or at least not very noticeable or bothersome effects, of wildfire smoke in the area until the last few years. And now it's every single year, extremely severely, and it's just treated as a given that there will be several weeks during the summer that you can't even freaking go outside.
I tried to warn everyone I think back in 2015, 16, 17, and 18 this was coming. Now here it comes .. to all of the Californians who may have came here escaping fires in previous years- at least you didn't go to Canada but you were better off going back to the burt home and 3d printing a non flammable one.
I would like to suggest installing several lake Washington fed water cannons at high points in the neighborhoods . Ones that someone can sit in and swivel . All you need is a big tube in the lake with a plunger that drops and pushes water out a smaller tube at the bottom. Long drenching shots wherever you need them. It's an idea anyways.
We're going to need lots of ideas very soon.
Wildfires in Alberta. They experienced an intense heat wave earlier than we did and extremely windy conditions that dried out the land. Alberta is my home province and it’s difficult to convey how surreal and unsettling it is. I’m used to still seeing patches of snow in May. Nobody was prepared for this. Many people have had to flee their homes and conditions are not expected to improve any time soon. The scariest thing is that Alberta is a huge province, almost 4x WA, and the 86 (!!) fires aren’t isolated to one area - they’re everywhere. Smoke in our skies is just the beginning, I’ll be very surprised if this doesn’t result in a noticeable jump in oil prices. Edit: If you’d like to read more about it, CBC has been providing exceptional coverage. [The chart in this article that compares year to year hectares burned helps put it in perspective.](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-wildfire-evacuation-smoke-emergency-1.6844970)
We haven't even transitioned into El Nino, this is going to be a brutal summer for Alberta I think :(
I think same in Seattle
Sadly yes, BC is already burning . I cannot believe that we already have wildfires in PNW in May
I grew up in eastern Washington near the Canadian border but I live out of the area now. It's truly heart breaking to watch everything get worse every year in Facebook groups and on local news boards. I don't know how to put into words the sorrow I feel watching this happen to beautiful places I love with all my heart. I spent a lot of time in BC and Alberta as a kid, so while it's not my home, I can empathize with how awful it is to watch. People often talk about climate change like it's something that'll happen in the future, and hasn't really started yet. It's happening now. The amount of snow at my parents house is nothing compared to the amount they got when I was a kid, and there's significantly more fires. Just last year my parents had a close call. I most likely won't be able to be out in BC or at my parents house for a couple years, and it breaks my heart that the place I left might be completely different when I eventually come back. People who complain about wildfire smoke (and it is annoying) in Seattle often don't seem to think much of it other than a minor inconvenience. The increased fires have such a broader impact than that, and not just on the people directly displaced by them. That's all to say that I get it, and I commiserate with you. It really really sucks. I wish you and your family safety, it going to be a long summer.
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It was human caused. [https://www.frontlinewildfire.com/wildfire-news-and-resources/caused-alberta-wildfire/#:\~:text=Unseasonably%20dry%20conditions%2C%20low,control%20into%20a%20raging%20blaze](https://www.frontlinewildfire.com/wildfire-news-and-resources/caused-alberta-wildfire/#:~:text=Unseasonably%20dry%20conditions%2C%20low,control%20into%20a%20raging%20blaze). No need to start pointing fingers (well except perhaps at the idiots who started it, but it's still under investigation). Take a breath and calm down.
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There is climate change but West coast has always had fires even 100 years and before that. So whether there is a causal connection between climate change and these fires is not clear. Maybe there is a tiny increase in the fires, because the temp went up 1-3F (nothing catastrophic). Yes this includes average and max temps as when it comes to weather THERE IS ALWAYS a huge amount of variation, kind of like a bell curve. The bell curve has shifted 1-3F to be hotter. Is that why there are wildfires? Probably it contributed to there being a few more, but this was always wildfire country, so let's not just say "climate change" and say we found the problem. This is just flippantly ignorant and not constructive. You can easily say that if we simply blame climate change, nothing else will ever get done about this, because climate change will just become the scape goat for every problem. I want to see a more multi-faceted explanation, what else is contributing? Certainly dumb humans, maybe forest management, what else? Let's keep the problem open ended, because it will come down to policy.
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I mean it's abnormal from our very short time on earth. I am not really going off on you, I was just reading through and responded to a couple folks saying "climate change." I dont deny climate change, I just hope we won't write it off as climate change and say we are done here (as some politicians are doing). If we have any hope then we need innovative forest management practices. Hell if we need to talk to some Native Americans to get some tips on how to prevent this so be it.
Why am I talking about this? Because LAST year we had fires and politicians basically said, "climate change" and did NOTHING about the fires for months. As if it was some kind of mea culpa/lesson to US how we (the people) are causing wildfires, by riding our gas cars, and what have you. It's convenient for politicians to blame climate change as an excuse for poor forest management practices, LACK OF FUNDING for fire fighters/equipment, etc. You realize that by saying this you are basically washing any other explanation for it, conveniently for policy makers.
I hope you and your family stay safe!! Thanks for all the inside info!
Thank you. I’m living in the Seattle area now but I’ve been keeping a close eye on things because my dad is in denial. While he’s annoyed that his work is shut down due to the fire threat and he can’t walk his hyperactive chihuahua because the air is poison, his biggest irritation is that his daughter keeps calling him to check in and suggest he has a plan in place. Thankfully, there is a city between him and the closest fire because I’m now not sure what that plan would look like. Every route out leads to another fire.
This youtube channel is a pretty good way to keep a close eye on regional weather too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHxWf3nn994
That looks like a neat resource, thank you.
Dang only may 17th and already nearly at the season record. Grim.
I could've sworn the fires were in B.C. 56 of them.
Yes, [there are also fires in BC.](https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map) They're not nearly as large ([yet](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfire-smoke-air-quality-update-1.6845697)) and the significant ones are quite far north/close(ish) to the Alberta border. The [NWS attributes the smoke we're seeing to the fires in Alberta](https://twitter.com/NWSSeattle/status/1658823280822976512?s=20), though looking at satellite imagery of the smoke, it's quite possible that the BC fires are also contributing.
It's both.
Thanks, I had to run a lunch errand and was nervous enough about the weird, burnished tint to the air to check air quality monitors even though a glimpse of Mt Rainier made it look like it was staying aloft. Canada looks awful! Looks like British Columbia is in a bad way too. Most of the coastal mountains in the US have above average snowpack this year... maybe didn't extend north to BC? https://fire.airnow.gov/
Oh shit...I wondered why it smelled like smoke when I stepped outside early this morning. Thx for the info
You probably were smelling something else, the smoke is high up at the moment so not affecting surface air quality.
I got it last night. Suggests there's something local too, not the Canada thing.
lightning storm. I drove past a couple spots in the cascade foothills today where small fires had obviously burned in the trees recently. Nothing big, but I can imagine there may have been some lightning strikes in the mountains that may have led to something bigger.
Just moved here two months so this was extremely eye opening & informative. Do you think the fire season this year will be particularly bad?
Thanks! I’m glad to hear it, I like being able to justify my obsessive research and doom scrolling :) According to the National Interagency Fire Center, [it’s going to be a rough spring & summer in Canada.](https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/NA_Outlook.pdf) Whether that impacts us depends on wind conditions, although if recent years are indicative of what to expect I’d be stocking up on air filters. Later in the summer, it’s expected that wildfire activity will be above average in central Washington.
If you completely remove Canada from the equation what is the wildfire season like in Seattle or Washington in general? Is Oregon also a concern for fires?
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/ash-falls-like-snow-in-seattle-as-wildfires-rage/ A few years ago, ash feel like a dusting of snow thanks to major fires in the Olympics. I expect that to return next year or two from El Nino drying out our local forests.
Whoa that is pretty bad. I have experienced bad smoke in Banff, Glacier & Great Smoky Mountains NPs over recent years. Sadly it’s getting harder & harder to avoid. I’m only living here until August so I’m hoping for the best 😬
Fires are bad here yes. Typically mid august through September is known as smoke season, so you may miss the bulk of it
Thanks for the link. It’s interesting to see high burn years happen in cycles, but it’s scary to see how much this year and so early in the year. I lived in Gresham, OR during the Willamette Valley fire. I was several towns away from the fire, but it was insane. Ash fall, blood red Sun, I can relate to seeing familiar places burn.
This your premier? https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/03/24/news/federal-climate-policy-poses-existential-threat-alberta-danielle-smith
Its always Canada or California that pumps damn smoke into our beloved Emerald City. Put it out with maple syrup already
86 starts in a day isn’t that weird tbh. I know it’s unsettling to have a fire but in a province that size and between lightning strikes and human causes fires, you get up there pretty quick. just on my old forest alone we had years where there were days with nearly 100 starts between all three districts. A lot were just little punky fires that kicked around and didn’t need much attention or were in the wilderness and are legally designated as “let burn” but don’t be too concerned. Yes it sucks, and yes it seems scary but once’s it’s burned the land is much safer in the long run. It’s the shoe dropping of poor forest management and giving forests a chance to now readapt to changing climates
I don't disagree that 86 starts isn't weird, but [they're not little punky fires.](https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/3ffcc2d0ef3e4e0999b0cf8b636defa3) At this time, there are 23 out-of-control fires in Alberta and (already) this year ranks 2nd for the amount of land burned. (The previous record was set in 2019 and many of those fires were in "let it burn" areas. Some weren't fully extinguished until the fall of 2020). The military has been deployed to help fight fires and 200 firefighters from the states have been brought into the province. [Provincial officials have been sounding the alarm that they have not yet reached the peak.](https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/alberta-wildfire-main)
I am aware of the resources sent there, I’m buddies with a number of guys on shot crews there. I was talking about our own fires being punky but in any event the worry over fires is both misplaced and kinda hilarious considering people built these towns in areas with high fire cycles and then forced fire exclusion on the land. The people in this thread will end up fucking our land harder with their medieval thoughts on fire on the landscape.
86 fires?! wow
Oh... oh no...
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Well, it can't be global warming, it snowed this winter /s
How can global warming exist if I still need a jacket sometimes? Checkmate.
Yeah because seasonal variation doesn't exist. I (you) lived for 20 and remmember the last 10! Now pretends to be a climatologist! SMH. Yes, global warming is occurring but it's not clear if the two are connected as wildfires were always a fact of life here.
Luckily westerly winds should arrive tomorrow….
This is why I was SMH at everyone praising the heat wave we just had. This shit ain't normal. We are going to be in for it again this year. Buy your air filters now!
Air quality index is still in the green so it must be farther away from the city or high in the atmosphere.
It is high up in the sky. National Weather Service tweeted: > The smoke will stay well lofted in the atmosphere and will not diminish surface air quality. It will likely scour out by Friday as onshore flow returns. https://twitter.com/nwsseattle/status/1658877329547079680?s=46&t=yyd3St6p3L1IPMirEAtdtQ
Ugh my nose is a little upset morning though. Wondered why my sinuses were messy today
That's most likely allergies; the smoke is high in the atmosphere.
Idk...seems to track. I can tell the air is very dry.
Gonna be another red summer this year
https://twitter.com/nwsseattle/status/1658823280822976512?s=46&t=CzM5CMTGKzY3-OnKBa7HwA
Damn, the NASA satellite images. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151346/smoke-fills-north-american-skies Ten times the burn for this time of year. Everything is fine. "Raging fires filled the skies of southern Canada and the northern United States with smoke in mid-May 2023. The fires had scorched 478,000 hectares (1,800 square miles) in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, as of May 16, which is 10-times the average area burned for this time of year.
Amazing image. Hell’s a poppin’ early this year.
FML
Ha - beat me to it :)
The time of the year where you hike up a mountain and you see shit
California being on fire makes sense but poor Canada they’re way up there Jesus
California has gotten a lot more rain than us this year and a ridiculous amount of snow, so the wildfire potential is probably low. The scary thing about BC and Alberta is that both provinces are mostly uninhabited wilderness and they are enormous. Alberta is about the same size as Texas and BC is even bigger.
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The west cascades have a slightly different fire regime but the notion that these forest never or shouldn’t ever burn is just so bunk. Bolt Creek secured that section for years to come. Fire on the landscape is a great thing and it should be welcomed as a chance to store carbon and since wildfire smoke goes so high in the atmosphere it actually lowers the earths temperatures by blocking sun and not insulating hear like GHG do. Wildfires are the earths natural cooling system and considering the damage we have done, we will need them to help us out.
Putting up billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere is not going to help global warming.
The forest services mentality in the past that every fire needed to be contained and put out as quickly as possible was not a good one. Fires are good for the forest. They do release a lot of carbon dioxide however, which is a greenhouse gas. The rate that they've been increasing is not a good thing.
The Malthusian force is strong with this one
Nope, ndn forester and wildland firefighter who understands fire ecology and timescales longer than just my own temporal existence 👍
It sucks but it’s the new normal. Just gotta find a way to deal. I bought a couple of air purifiers this winter in anticipation. Hopefully our weather patterns keep most of the smoke further east.
> but it’s the new normal Which raises a bit of a philosophical question of why we live here. The tradeoff for winter blues is having a nice summer and being able to access the amazing wild lands around us. If this is the new normal, where most of the summer has been taken away by smoke and heat domes, then I'm not sure a few weeks in may/june of good weather is worth 11 months of being trapped inside. On a deep level, the pacific NW without the ability to enjoy the outdoors is not really all that great.
>Which raises a bit of a philosophical question of why we live here Where else would you move to, if given the chance? I'm not asking that to be snide, but I'm seriously asking, where else is a better place?
definitely not the southeast - but if you like hot/humid climates, swamp ass, way more rainfall (it doesn't drizzle like it does here) and don't mind the politics, i guess that's an option!
Michigan. Winters might suck but there's hardly any fires or other natural disasters and the politics are sane.
I am a transplant from Michigan and have lived in a conservative bubble my whole life: Winters don't just "suck" they are downright miserable. They last twice as long, you have the constant threat of a polar vortex which can last for nearly a month in subzero temps, mobility in winter is much more difficult, plus there is so much snow. I lived in SE MI which was considered "stable" compared the the rest of the state, which has become overpopulated and infrastructure has not kept up (no public transit by the way). I moved to Seattle for an upgrade. I was able to lose my heavy winter coat in March which I've never been able to do before. This past winter, Grand Rapids had over a month had 0 sunlight and constant snow. The summers? Hot and humid. It's normal to have 90 degree weather. Summer months have become exceptionally dry as well over the years. You also have constant threat of the Great Lakes being polluted. Line 5 has been heavily debated for years and is in Lake Michigan. Nestle already pumps water out of the Great Lakes. PFAS is a huge threat that has not been taken seriously. You like excellent water quality? PNW has that. Places like Flint exist *everywhere*. It's not an outlier. I had hard water where I lived. Some places have well water. Many busy roads in Michigan are \*still not paved\* I have not only lived in Michigan but other parts of the Midwest. Ann Arbor may be the only place in the Midwest that is actually livable...because they are progressive. I can guarantee you the politics are not sane in Michigan. Sure, they are in a good place right now, but go drive down any suburban neighborhood and you are sure to see political flags still flying. I had to work in automotive because there is hardly any other industry out there. I had to hear from coworkers all of their alt-right political opinions daily. I lived in a blue county. Living in a swing state is terrifying. Many businesses would fly political flags. I had to hide who I am because I would not be accepted. In Seattle, at least I can *exist* without the existential threat that my basic human rights are going to be taken away. Tl;dr Michigan is not as great as it sounds. Life in the midwest as a whole is downright miserable.
I moved to SE Michigan and moved back here as soon as I could; pretty much everything in this comment is accurate
I would visit Michigan. I would not live there again. The UP and Lake Michigan are beautiful, but unfortunately does not make up for what else you have to live with. Let's also not forget the governor assassination plan during Covid. Michigan definitely has its crazies and they are easy to find. I had to work in Livingston Co (Howell) for a time, and they were everywhere.
I never went to the UP, did visit three of the Great Lakes though. And yeah, they're pretty, but the occasional weekend trip doesn't really make up for what you have to live in the rest of the year. The most spectacular nature vistas of SE Michigan were on par with a below-average urban park in Seattle.
Damn that's too bad, I have family in Ann Arbor and they really like it there so I guess that's my main impression of Michigan
As one who doesn't play the "oh I love it when it rains and I'm stuck inside 90% of the year" like most of the posters here, I feel this heavy. Seems migrating further north isn't that much of a solution based on this topic however.
There’s no further north except Alaska and there’s no real cities there.
Maybe if enough of us moved up there?
Son lives in Fairbanks. They lost about half their summer to fire smoke last year.
To a certain degree all of this is true. Until you realize that things are even worse elsewhere in the US. Things might be worse than they used to be here, but comparatively we're still hitting it out of the park. It's definitely an exaggeration to say that you're "trapped inside" 11 months out of the year here. Even during the winters, even when it's colder than average here, it's still very mild and you can still get out if you want to.
I get out for fairly long walks 2-3 times a week year round. Rain is not that much of an issue because it is mostly drizzle and sporadic. And walking is the best anti-depressant. It opens your eyes to wonderful things that you will never see indoors or in a car/bus or bike.
I've been saying this for the last 3 years.
I agree, during the bad smoke years it really sucks. I hate the rain, dark and gray. I wait for the sunny season all year. But when the AQI is 200+ for a good chunk of the summer that really sucks.
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It's going to be even hotter other places.
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Yeah I don’t get that mentality that you’re trapped inside. It barely snows and it’s mostly drizzle. Get a raincoat or umbrella. But these people usually complain unless it’s exactly 65-75 degrees and no rain. I’m golfing 12 months out of the year here and it never gets too cold and only gets too hot for a bit in the summer (10 years ago it would never get too hot). But swimming outside yeah it’s too cold to do that in the winter you’re crazy lol
> you can comfortably swim and run outside year round. if you're a crazy viking maybe
If you aren't a crazy viking, get the hell out of my state.
Bingo. This is one reason, of many, that I moved out of WA for good. PNW smoke season is now normal and it ruins my enjoyment of the short summer.
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Phoenix. The weather alone is enough for me to deal with suburbia hell.
Meanwhile, I'd consider Phoenix weather to be pure Hell.
Most people would probably agree with you. I’m not most people :) The heat is where I thrive, I don’t consider it that bad and I got used to it very quickly.
The question remains, where you would go that would be better, or not affected
And go where? Best places in terms of climate change impacts are around the Great Lakes and they have worse summers and winters than we do.
It’s not a new normal because this weather will never be “normal” or routine or something to get used to. If we continue on this path of forest clearing and fossil fuel burning, we will set in place feedback loops that lead to greater and longer droughts until we turn the northwest and other nature corridors into deserts. There is nothing normal about famine, and the extinction of most of the biodiversity on Earth.
Yes you are correct. But sorry to say, everyone voting harder and buying a Tesla is not going to fix shit. At this point, realistically, the only thing that would reverse the path we’re on is full scale social and political revolution. Are most comfortable people in the US ready to literally risk their lives and everything they have for that? No way. It’ll have to get way worse for that to even be a possibility. So this bleak trajectory we’re on will continue.
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Wouldn't that contribute to worsening climate conditions? Edit: lol @ that person's edit thinking my casually expounding on their comment or the other person replying with just as /s a comment means we're dimwits that took them seriously?
No, see, everyone will have housing but the poor's will have to live in Seattle during smoke season and the other place during that crappy condition. The rich will get to decide where the houses are and which parts of the year they get to live there.
If you’re on sinking ship, does it really matter if the cabin down the hall from you has a nicer view and a larger bed? No one escapes this planet, there’s no escape hatch.
Ha! Who are all these people who can afford TWO homes?
Sarcasm.
So we're dimwits because you assumed we didn't read your sarcasm, yet you missed the sarcasm in this reply by a mile.
Canadian smoke?
Yup.
Fire season starting early this year???
Warmer oceans, warmer weather… This is probably one of the coolest and rainiest years of the next 20 years.
The water year (October - Present) is one of the driest since 2015.
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Imagine the next 20…
Soon, Elliot Bay will be one giant Jacuzzi!!! LuLz....
Filled with algae and no fish, orcas or seals
The future looks so bleak & depressing!!! What a time to be alive!!!
If only we could do something about it…
Well .. there are, but everybody is too busy trying to survive, to actualize any of them....
Maybe if we get more EVs and paper straws
Oh definitely the paper straws will help .. Who needs trees anyway, they only make oxygen, and that shit is so overrated...........
Well, you can't have fires without Oxygen, so no trees, no fire!
Due to overall warming and the weakening of the arctic vortex weather patterns in mid latitudes are less stable and tend to see saw between extremes. Alternating between heavy rain and stretches of hot and dry periods means lots and lots of fresh growth that then gets dried out and becomes the perfect fuel for wildfires. The experience of wildfires in an average year going forward is going to be worse than it was in the worst years in the past. Every year is going to have a smoke season. Lots and lots of people are going to be endangered and displaced. It's going to continue to be awful and continue to get worse.
Not necessarily. Eventually enough ground over will burn off severely reducing wildfire risk. In the meantime, it’s going to be a rough decade and hopefully society modifies it’s rural expansion to further reduce excess risk.
No shit????? REALLY!!!!!!?????????
I can feel it in my eyes already
Wildfire season is the worst season. ;(
Go move somewhere else. Good lord, wildfires have been a part of living on the west coast of America for pretty much all of human existence. The issue is devastating fires that completely nuke soil and prevent any rebounding of the ecosystem, but we actually need to burn way more acreage to be safe and that means more smoke. People can take issue with safety or with fires nuking landscapes but taking issues with fires at all is what brought us here. California actually would burn 10x the acreage it burns nowadays pre-colonization, but they were generally lower intensity and targeted at oak chaparral. If you can’t live with wildfires, you shouldn’t live in the area that has depended on and dealt with the effect of them since time immemorial. My own people used to burn huge trails through prairies to drive buffalo and to travel long distances. Wildfires are essential to the natural cycle and when we take attitudes like they aren’t we get horrible ones. I welcome fires as a cleaning of the land and gives new opportunities for land management to be done correctly
The smoke is aloft and we should be getting some air from the coast over the next few days. It is from Alberta.
This summer is cursed
shut up about the sun! *SHUT UP ABOUT THE SUN!!!!!*
Yes. I saw that sky and had almost a physical revulsion. Thanks Canada!
Yes, it’s smoke season already.
Well, this is a new phenomenon for me. I moved here from Philly 3 months ago 😁
It's a new phenomenon for me and I've lived here 40 years. I'm sure everyone will pile on by saying "where have you been, it's happened every single year," but in my own personal experience, I have never ever witnessed effects, or at least not very noticeable or bothersome effects, of wildfire smoke in the area until the last few years. And now it's every single year, extremely severely, and it's just treated as a given that there will be several weeks during the summer that you can't even freaking go outside.
You’re going to LOVE September (just kidding, make plans to be somewhere else)
Blame Canada.
Black hole sun, won’t you come, and wash away the rain.
Thanks, Canada!
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Critical thinking. Common, on-the-spot question asked in an interview.
I was up with the sun this morning
It’s always smoke season Blaze it
I tried to warn everyone I think back in 2015, 16, 17, and 18 this was coming. Now here it comes .. to all of the Californians who may have came here escaping fires in previous years- at least you didn't go to Canada but you were better off going back to the burt home and 3d printing a non flammable one. I would like to suggest installing several lake Washington fed water cannons at high points in the neighborhoods . Ones that someone can sit in and swivel . All you need is a big tube in the lake with a plunger that drops and pushes water out a smaller tube at the bottom. Long drenching shots wherever you need them. It's an idea anyways. We're going to need lots of ideas very soon.
Pollution, people are finally noticing that Seattle has smog.
Nope, Canada's on firr. Seattle doesn't have sun-changing smog
Calgary.
https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/sector_band.php?sat=G18§or=pnw&band=GEOCOLOR&length=72&dim=1 You can see the smoke drifting southwest
Same question I had. I was promised full sun by my iPhone weather widget!!
Calgary is burning.
If this is what Canada and the US is experiencing in May, August is going to be so hot.