Canadian smoke crosses the Atlantic and reaches Europe

Canadian smoke reaches Europe

Wildfires in Canada have been raging across the country since May. The energetic early start to the fire season brought abundant smoke to much of North America, turning skies orange and prompting many air quality alerts. Now some of that smoke has drifted across the Atlantic Ocean and is darkening skies in parts of Europe.

Newest numbers for Canada's season-to-date accumulated FRP (sum of instantaneous values), showing the continued absurdity of this year's combined fire size and intensity. #Pyrocene #Canadianwildfires https://t.co/iwbqsOmJ2J pic.twitter.com/ikOeqiVLpp

— Neil Lareau (@nplareau) June 26, 2023

A view from above

At 11:10 UTC on June 26, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired the image above. It shows smoke that originated in Canada reaching parts of Portugal and Spain. North of this view, areas such as the U.K. also experienced smoky skies.

In addition, the map below shows black carbon particles – or soot – traveling with the wind across more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of the Atlantic Ocean. NASA’s GEOS Forward Processing (GEOS-FP) model collected the carbon density data. GEOS-FP can incorporate meteorological data (temperature, moisture and winds) to forecast the plume’s behavior.

So far, Europeans haven’t faced the air quality alerts that residents of North America have been subject to. Currently, the smoke over Europe is high in the atmosphere, farther away from humans. But Europeans should be on the lookout for more colorful sunrises and sunsets.

Pyrocumulonimbus clouds

Back in Canada, the furious flames are creating their own weather. Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are those that form over a heat source. Wildfires and volcanic eruptions produce heat that can rise and become thunderstorms. These fire-generated storms can then produce rain to help quench the fire below. But they can also produce lightning and make the situation worse.

A large pyrocumulonimbus (#pyroCb) developed over a fire in #Ontario on 22 June. This brings the pyroCb total in Canada to 51, already making 2023 the most active year of the last decade. The previous benchmark was 50 pyroCbs in 2021, with only one pyroCb observed by this date. pic.twitter.com/CN939z0gi7

— David Peterson (@DrDavePeterson) June 23, 2023

Bottom line: Canadian smoke from raging wildfires has now crossed the Atlantic to darken skies over Europe.

Via NASA