A firefighter looks on during the efforts to control fire in a rainforest located in the municipality of Canta, Roraima state, Brazil, February 29, 2024. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly
This is your reminder that the smoke from forest fires is not just tree smoke.
It's smoke from burnt buildings, burnt vehicles, burnt animals, and everything the fire has destroyed in its path.
Check air quality often (several times a day) and be prepared to protect yourself and loved ones, including your pets, if need be.
Canada wildfire smoke is creating ‘unhealthy’ air quality in the northern US
Smoke from Canadian wildfires is back and is spreading over part of the northern #UnitedStates, and it could spread farther throughout the week.
By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published May 13, 2024
"In a replay of last year around the same time, wildfires in Canada have become more numerous over the past week. Smoke from those fires is being carried into the northern United States and will result in hazy skies and, in some cases, poor air quality, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
"Last year, large wildfires burned much of central and southern Canada and periodically sent smoke into the northern U.S. The Canadian wildfire season is expected to be near to above the historical average in terms of the number of fires and well above average in terms of the acreage burned. However, the numbers will be much less than those of the record-shattering season of 2023."
Wildfire near #Lyman WA. Map shows satellite heat detections. Data is not real time and there is often several hours between updates.
A strong south wind has come through this afternoon and that will hit this fire if it hasn’t already.
If, like me, you live in the usually soggy #PNW consider this a reminder that things are going to be different here in terms of wildfire. We all need to get savvy about defensible space, ‘go bags’ and multiple evacuation routes. #Wildfire#Skagit
“Climate change poses an additional challenge by fundamentally shifting #wildfire risk, fire behavior, and the trajectory of postfire recovery in ways that current fire behavior models … are not designed to meet.”
Utility-related fires are wreaking havoc across the United States. Since 2017, fires related to electricity transmission have burned at least 3 million acres.
#ClimateChange helping drive an increase in large wildfires in the US
"The size of a #wildfire is related to the duration of fire weather, McGinnis said. “#ClimateChange is projected to increase the amount of time when high fire conditions prevail in the U.S.”
“People aren't even facing what's reality right this moment in terms of wildfire,” Steinberg said “There’s so much denial.” "
"Texas wildfire - rising temperatures, winds and dry air hamper firefighting - Personnel battle to keep largest wildfire in state history from turning more of the #Panhandle into a parched wasteland
...
The massive #fire has left a charred landscape of scorched #prairie and dead cattle and destroyed as many as 500 structures, including burned-out homes, in the Texas Panhandle. It has merged with another fire and crossed the state line into #Oklahoma, burning more than 1,700 sq miles (4,400 sq km) and was 15% contained, the Texas A&M forest service said Saturday."
Weird to see a meme floating around about how the Texas fires "aren't covered in the mainstream media!". Really? I guess people are in such a right wing bubble they can't see that's the furthest thing from the truth? News orgs aren't going to pass up covering a disaster this size, ffs.
"Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures have fed the blazes.
The main fire, known as the Smoke House Creek Fire, had grown to more than half the size of the state of Rhode Island. It is five times the size it was on Monday, when it began."
The Pantex plant, northeast of Amarillo, evacuated nonessential staff Tuesday night out of an “abundance of caution,” said Laef Pendergraft, a spokesperson for National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office at Pantex. Firefighters remained in case of an emergency.
The plant, long the main U.S. site for both assembling and disassembling atomic bombs, completed its last new bomb in 1991 and has dismantled thousands since.
By JIM VERTUNO
Updated 9:50 AM EST, February 28, 2024
"A fast-moving wildfire burning through the Texas Panhandle grew into the second-largest blaze in state history Wednesday, forcing evacuations and triggering power outages as firefighters struggled to contain the widening flames.
"The sprawling blaze was part of a cluster of fires that burned out of control and threatened rural towns, where local officials spent the night shutting down roads and urging residents to leave their homes. The largest of the fires — which grew to nearly 800 square miles — jumped into parts of neighboring Oklahoma and remained completely uncontained as dawn broke, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
"Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures have fed the blazes. Near Borger, a community of about 13,000 people, emergency officials at one point late Tuesday answered questions from panicked residents during a Facebook livestream and told them to get ready to leave if they had not already."
"#Wildfire smoke is responsible for the dominant air pollutant degrading air quality in this region and across much of #Colorado: PM 2.5, shorthand for particulates that are smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can burrow deep in the lungs and cause major health problems."
"The fires have ravaged thousands of hectares of forest since Friday, cloaking coastal cities in a dense fog of grey smoke and forcing people to flee their homes in the central regions of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso.
As Chile and Colombia battle rising temperatures, the heatwave is also threatening to sweep over Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the coming days."
"Tropical regions of South America, particularly northeastern #Venezuela and the northern Brazilian state of #Roraima, have been experiencing intense wildfire activity in the second half of February, following increased #wildfire activity in Chile and Argentina earlier in the month. "