The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record Main Topic: Canada Is Burning This Week Due to Climate Change as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Canada Is Burning This Week Due to Climate Change
Dear Diary. From the start of this warm season in May from west to east an anomalous heat dome has been the impetus for creating record heat causing unprecedented wildfires across Canada.
Average temperatures across Canada have been astoundingly warm during May:
As I write this post Canada is literally burning. Yesterday some of this heat briefly spread into the northeastern United States, although not nearly enough for me to declare that a major heatwave was occurring there.
Smoke from Canada’s wildfires has spread into the northern United States from time to time during May and now into early June. These images from Canada are startling:
We have now entered am era at global +1.2°C (+2.7°F) above preindustrial conditions in which dreadful heatwaves will be occurring across both the northern and southern hemispheres during their warm seasons. Any point where people are settled is fair game for unprecedented heat leading to many health problems.
The Washington Post has written a good summary on both Canada’s record heat and associated blazes, which I am sharing for today’s main topic:
‘Unprecedented’ Canadian fires intensified by record heat, climate change – The Washington Post
‘Unprecedented’ Canadian fires intensified by record heat, climate change
About 200 wildfires are burning across the country, and more than half are out of control
Updated June 3, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EDT|Published June 2, 2023 at 2:14 p.m. EDT
An aerial view of a fire in Shelburne County in Nova Scotia. (Nova Scotia government/AFP/Getty Images)
It’s already a wildfire season for the record books in Canada, with the blistering heat of summer and howling winds of fall still ahead. About 200 wildfires are currently burning across the country, and more than half are out of control. Major fires were ongoing in more than half the nation’s provinces as of Friday.
The rash of blazes, intensified by record heat in many areas, is an ominous sign of the ill effects of climate change, which are not confined to Canada. Smoke continues to pour into the Lower 48 states, compromising air quality and showing climate change’s effects know no borders, even as the United States has seen a tame fire season by comparison.
During May alone, Canada saw greater than 6.5 million acres (2.7 million hectares) burn, compared with an average of about 370,000 acres (150,00 hectares) during the month.
“These conditions this early in the season are unprecedented, and of course they are deeply concerning to all Canadians,” Bill Blair, Canada’s minister of emergency preparedness, told reporters Thursday, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Wildfire smoke is hitting the East Coast. How bad is it for your health?
Now, a new round of intense heat is swelling westward across the country, unwelcome news for many areas where fires remain uncontained.
Charred lands from coast to coast
“Canadians from coast to coast to coast have felt the impact of intense wildfires. These fires threaten our communities, livelihoods and our environment,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s minister of natural resources, in a statement Thursday.
Several major fires continue to burn in Nova Scotia. The largest, the Barrington Lake Fire in the province’s coastal south, has burned more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares), becoming Nova Scotia’s largest blaze on record. Teams from as far away as Bozeman, Mont., have joined firefighting efforts in Atlantic Canada.
On Friday, amid record heat, multiple fires erupted in Quebec, with enormous smoke plumes detected by weather satellites:
Canada’s largest wildfires remain focused in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where the Rockies meet the prairies. The region has been under drought conditions for much of the year and has seen very warm temperatures recently, including a record-breaking May in many spots.
Both provinces have seen more than 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) burn so far this year.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which tracks fire activity, wrote Thursday that emissions into the atmosphere from the fires were near the highest on record in Canada during May, and record-setting in British Colombia, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia.
Repeated rounds of record heat
Pulse after pulse of record heat has helped fuel the extreme fire situation.
Heat spread across Nova Scotia again on Thursday, with temperatures reaching 91 degrees (33 Celsius) in Halifax, more than 18 degrees (10 Celsius) above average. Record highs were also observed in many eastern cities, including Ottawa at 95 degrees (35.1 Celsius), Montreal at 94 degrees (34.3 Celsius) and Toronto at 88 degrees (31 Celsius).
Some of this heat bled into the northern United States where numerous records were set. Burlington, Vt., reached a simmering 96 degrees, crushing its previous June 1 record of 90 while Fargo, N.D., hit a record-tying 97. Dozens of additional record highs could be set Friday and Saturday in the Great Lakes and Northeast.
Many records were set on Thursday in eastern Canada and the northern tier of the United States. (coolwx.com)
Over the coming days, the most extreme temperatures in Canada are expected to slowly move westward, first scorching Ontario and adjacent areas Friday before shifting into the prairies over the weekend.
Migrating pulses of heat have affected much of Canada and parts of the northern United States throughout the spring. In the western half of Canada, Calgary, Edmonton, Yellowknife and Churchill, among other locations, posted their warmest May on record. These spots all ranged from 9 to 12 degrees (5 to 6.5 Celsius) above average.
The predicted weather pattern ahead offers little relief. Record and near-record warmth are expected to focus over the western half of Canada and the Pacific Northwest into next week and perhaps longer.
“Current projections indicate that this may continue to be a challenging summer for wildfires in parts of the country,” the Government of Canada wrote in a statement Thursday. “Forecasts for warm, dry weather indicate the potential for increased fire activity.”
Above to much above average temperatures are forecast for most of Canada over the next 10 days. (weatherbell.com)
Persistent and often extreme warmth in the high latitudes is among the clearest signals of climate change. The Arctic and its surroundings have been found to be warming much faster than most of the planet.
Stagnant zones of high pressure, which bring prolonged periods of sunny, hot conditions, have been numerous in recent years and have again been the prevailing weather feature in 2023. An expansive zone of high pressure anchored around the Hudson Bay has frequently migrated west and east for much of this year and particularly since the spring.
During May, the strength of the high pressure in western and central Canada — based on a measure known as “500 mb heights” by meteorologists — was record-setting:
Such high-pressure zones, which climate change intensifies, not only boost temperatures and fuel fires but also strengthen drought conditions conducive to fires by drying out the land surface.
Jason Samenow contributed to this report.
By Ian Livingston Ian Livingston is a forecaster/photographer and information lead for the Capital Weather Gang. By day, Ian is a defense and national security researcher at a D.C. think tank. Twitter
Much More:
Here are some “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is new May 2023 climatology:
Here is more climate and weather news from Saturday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)