Science

Canadian wildfire smoke blows over to Europe

Plumes of smoke from the wildfires burning in Canada have been blown across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, with more expected to arrive this week, satellite data shows.

First plumes reached Mediterranean on May 18, with more arriving this week

Animated map with North America and Europe showing a red mass moving eastward
Smoke from Canada's wildfires is travelling both southeast into the U.S. and across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. (CAMS/CBC)
Plumes of smoke from the wildfires burning in Canada have been blown across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, with more expected to arrive this week, satellite data shows. 
 

The first plume hit the Mediterranean region on May 18, and a larger one reached northwestern Europe on June 1, with more expected to hit Europe this week, Europe's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reported Tuesday.

Large, out-of-control fires continue to rage from B.C. to Ontario, forcing more than 17,000 people to flee their homes in Manitoba, and thousands more in other provinces, including Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Mark Parrington, a senior scientist with CAMS, said the long-distance movement of smoke plumes was a "reflection of the scale of the fires and impacts they have been having in Manitoba and Saskatchewan."

While the smoke is expected to lead to hazy skies and red-orange sunsets in Europe, it's not expected to have a significant impact on surface air quality there, as the smoke is high above the ground.

Besides heading east to Europe, smoke from the wildfires is also blowing southeast to other parts of Canada and into the upper Midwest in the U.S., causing "hazardous" air quality in some areas.

This year's wildfires have already burned 2.1 million hectares, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Fire danger is extreme across much of the regions where wildfires are raging, thanks to hot, dry and windy conditions — the kinds of weather conditions that are more likely and intense due to human-caused climate change.

WATCH | The fire weather pattern everyone is watching:

The fire weather pattern everyone is watching

8 days ago
Duration 1:41
It’s still May, and wildfire season across the Prairies is already off to a dangerous and fast-moving start. Meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe explains how extreme heat, and gusty winds are creating a perfect storm for fire growth — with no rain in sight.

The fires themselves are also producing huge amounts of climate-warming emissions: CAMS estimated that so far this year, Canadian wildfires had released 56 megatonnes of carbon by June 2. That's second highest for this time of year, just behind 2023, a record-breaking year for wildfires.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Chung

Science, Climate, Environment Reporter

Emily Chung covers science, the environment and climate for CBC News. She has previously worked as a digital journalist for CBC Ottawa and as an occasional producer at CBC's Quirks & Quarks. She has a PhD in chemistry from the University of British Columbia. In 2019, she was part of the team that won a Digital Publishing Award for best newsletter for "What on Earth." You can email story ideas to emily.chung@cbc.ca.

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

The environment is changing. This newsletter is your weekly guide to what we’re doing about it.

...

The next issue of What on Earth will soon be in your inbox.

Discover all CBC newsletters in the Subscription Centre.opens new window

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service apply.