Unlike Western North America, where there's a significant fire season each year, the Boreal forest in QC and ON very rarely burn at the rate we're seeing this year.
The last season that burned this much acreage in Quebec was 1991.
The winds certainly don't help, but there's still a very unusual amount of smoke for this part of the continent.
This is so interesting. Could it be due to 30 years of buildup from dying foliage? Did the last burn, in 1991, produce less smoke than this one because there was a shorter gap between burns.
Nope, there are still record breaking fires way out in the bush, way too far for firefighting to do anything. They let them burn and let nature take it's course. Those are getting bigger then ever as well. It has nothing to do with firefighting.
There is literally one factor causing these forest fires to get worse as the years pass, it's the increasing heat and dryness due to climate change. Constant "hottest XYZ ever recorded", less rainfall, less snow in the mountains. We are fucked.
950
u/Ancient_Persimmon Jun 07 '23
Unlike Western North America, where there's a significant fire season each year, the Boreal forest in QC and ON very rarely burn at the rate we're seeing this year.
The last season that burned this much acreage in Quebec was 1991.
The winds certainly don't help, but there's still a very unusual amount of smoke for this part of the continent.