Wildfires continue to rage on in Canada, forcing thousands of people and producers to evacuate. Many of the fires are classified as “out of control,” meaning they are expected to keep growing.
Fires have scorched almost 2,000 square miles in Southern Canada so far, and the ongoing heat and drought are not helping farmers or oil companies out any with production —or providing an end in sight.
Take a look at this graph from the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. The blue bar shows fires this year by province and the red bar shows the 10-year average. So far, there have been 944 reported fires this year, which already surpassed the average of 806 with just over seven months left in the year.
As of May 16, fires have scorched 478,000 hectares (1,800 square miles) in southern Canada – 10-times the average area burned for this time of year.@noaa's GOES-18 satellite captured smoke from the fires over Canada and the U.S. on May 15, 2023. https://t.co/gi9EQqmqIL pic.twitter.com/IRCZNqhVBG
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) May 17, 2023
The fires are even visible from satellite. NASA Earth tweeted out this picture they captured and it shows the smoke that is sweeping over Southern Canada as well as into North Dakota and Minnesota. That smoke does not come at a great time as those producers need to get in the fields.
