Got Smoke ?

[airdronian]

Last I checked the smoke that's inundating some of the regions in the east (Chicago, etc) seems to be coming down from Quebec. I think locally we've been pretty lucky lately.

In northeast BC is the Donnie Creek wildfire, burning since May and still considered out of control. It's become the province's largest in history now, at a little over 2200 square miles. Once I made a road trip in that region to a company field site; almost nothing but forest up there. Hopefully all that smoke stays well away.

 

[JoeThePop]

Last I checked the smoke that's inundating some of the regions in the east (Chicago, etc) seems to be coming down from Quebec. I think locally we've been pretty lucky lately.

In northeast BC is the Donnie Creek wildfire, burning since May and still considered out of control. It's become the province's largest in history now, at a little over 2200 square miles. Once I made a road trip in that region to a company field site; almost nothing but forest up there. Hopefully all that smoke stays well away.

Yes, from Quebec. Counter clockwise rotation of a low pressure system has been pulling the smoke west and south. It’s a very slow moving system.

 

[Punker X]

Wasn't following this thread, but it been bad here in Michigan. Reminds me back when we burned leaves. Haven't smoked in 15 years, but feels like I smoked 2 packs yesterday.

 

[Rudy]

Our road trip to Colorado in three weeks can't come soon enough. The Spring Creek fire was around 3,000 acres but we'll be away from it. I remember being in Durango in 2018 and visiting Mesa Verde National Park, which has a fire lookout tower. We could see the largest of the three fires (at the time) from up there.

 

[Rudy]

The smoke is moving to the southeast, so our AQI is down to 78 now. Savannah GA had nearly the same AQI when I checked this morning, with thicker smoke on the way.

 

[Rudy]

Well...



'Tis much better.

But I don't know if it's just me being out of whack, or do I still smell a bit of that acrid "burnt" smell in the air? I swore I've smelled it the past couple of days...

 

[Rudy]

After a reprieve, here it comes again... 😐

 

[airdronian]

We've been away for a few days and missed the smoke returning. It's back but not too severe at the moment. Hopefully this is not the new normal.

 

[billfort]

Last few days here in Airdrie have been pretty bad, but rain last night a bit of a wind shift has it looking a little better this morning.

Yes, hoping this isn't the summer norm now.

 

[Rudy]

Hopefully this is not the new normal.

Yes, hoping this isn't the summer norm now.

Same here.

We've had the haze and the orange sunsets from the smoke in the past, but this is the first time I can remember where the smoke was low to the ground vs. being more up in the atmosphere as it was with those other incidents from years past. We have a "clear" day with no clouds but as I sit here preparing to leave the house, the sun is getting more and more obscured.

And I'm helping my youngest move...again...today. But this time she and her roomies have some of their friends helping, and one of her roomies has family members coming to help, so it won't be quite so bad. If the smoke gets any worse, I'll have to stick to inside chores and avoid the outdoors as much as I can as it will aggravate the asthma (smoke + exertion).

 

[mhardy6647]

out back this afternoon.

 

[Rudy]

It seems to be moving quickly. Current status:

 

[airdronian]

out back this afternoon.

Looks like there are several acres that still need mowing. Better rev up the Toro !

 

[mhardy6647]

Looks like there are several acres that still need mowing. Better rev up the Toro !

For the past couple of years, we don't mow the south or west fields 'til early fall.



There be bobolinks in them there weeds.



Our farmer-neighbors don't need the hay any more (they have very few cows now), which is kind of a double-edged sword.
They hayed the back field for nearly 30 years, beginning when we bought the property, which was a tremendous benefit for us (and at least a minor benefit for them).

 

[airdronian]

Just read a news story that part of the town of Osoyoos in BC (wine country) has an evacuation notice for a fire that is coming up from Washington State. This really is the summer of the fires.

For some context, I saw a chart on my phone app that I can't find elsewhere, but this is a substitute.



The previous record in Canada for the amount burned in a fire season was about 7.1 million hectares in 1995. (1 hectare = 2.47 acres). We're currently over 11 million hectares with all of August and September ahead.

 

[billfort]

Wow, this is scary - not just some uncomfortable smokey days to get past.

I just booked a week's vacation in Aug down near Osoyoos too - I better come up with a plan-B if this goes bad.

 

[Kpatch]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nwt-wildfire-update-aug-17-1.6939679

All 22,000 residents of Yellowknife are being evacuated in advance of a wall of flame from out-of-control wildfires converging on the capital city. Yet this isn’t the first time an entire Canadian town has been cleared.


Yellowknife and Kelowna wildfires burn in what is already Canada's worst season on record

 

[airdronian]

Yup, things aren't doing too well in the GWN. I hadn't been commenting lately in the thread, as I didn't want to keep yammering on about this when so many lost their lives in Maui.

Yellowknife is the capital of the Northwest Territories. It's proper North country up there, with wide expanses of wilderness, and not many roads. So evacuating that many people isn't easy when the fires threaten. They are airlifting people down to Edmonton and Calgary. They were also losing data connectivity at one point, making communication difficult. That might be resolved, not sure really.

In BC it's been crazy, there's up to 35,000 people displaced. There's a lot more than Kelowna going on, fortunately our relatives there are ok. If curious, the BC Gov't has an emergency info website, with map. There's 134 evacuation alerts or orders in place, and 384 wildfires.

EmergencyInfoBC | your source for emergency response and recovery information

EmergencyInfoBC is active during provincial emergencies. We share official response and recovery sources, and verified event information from trusted partners.

www.emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca

 

[billfort]

Oh it's smokey in BC! A complete change of plans, and we're heading N towards Golden, then NE towards Jasper, but this vacation is looking like a complete smoke-out.

This is the Columbia River N of Radium - probably an amazing view normally, but not today.



We've seen some areas where the trees have been taken out by wildfires but never got close to the towns that are devastated. Scary stuff.

 

[airdronian]

Yeah, that sucks. We abandoned our vacation into the Kootenays in 2021 because of the smoke.