2020 Wildfires in Oregon and California

[STeeLy]

Just drove from Jasper back to Calgary via The Icefield Parkway and Trans Canada.


Yesterday in Jasper, outside of clouds, skies were all clear. At The Whistlers Summit, once the cloud cover was gone, visibility was virtually unlimited.


Today, it was rather hazy up in Jasper, some mountains that were normally visible, even under cloudy conditions, could not be seen. The smoke got progressively worse the further south we drove down Icefield Parkway. Eventually, we did end up smelling the smoke somewhere south of Columbia Icefield.


The smoky haze lifted as we drove east on the Trans Canada, and there may be trace amounts of smoke noticeable in/near Calgary

[Mass_nerder]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

My cousin was on a gold trip to Kamloops this weekend and it was clear skies.

I know Kelowna has had some smoke but it's likely not nearly as bad as Greater Vancouver & Victoria since we're so much closer to Washington.

I live in Vernon and it's very smokey here, and has been since Sunday. Can't compare it to Vancouver, as I haven't been, but it's almost as smokey as Calgary's worst days last summer.

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

I live in Vernon and it's very smokey here, and has been since Sunday. Can't compare it to Vancouver, as I haven't been, but it's almost as smokey as Calgary's worst days last summer.

kelowna's been pretty gross this week.

i heard on the news this morning that hopefully things will clear out a bit later this week - so hopefully that happens!

for comparison....
normal view from my place to what we've been like this week.
IMG_6177 by bc-chris, on Flickr


IMG_1496 by bc-chris, on Flickr

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Oh good and now Canada Post has stopped all mail delivery for almost the entire province.

[dammage79]

The rain has done nothing to get rid of the smoke in Victoria. In fact the weather seems to have just pushed it down. Its worse today than any other day since it began. It was supposed to clear yesterday.

[Fuzz]

I've learned that smoke forecasts are even less accurate than weather forecasts, so I wouldn't put to much weight in them to plan your day.

[bc-chris]

i discovered this site today - it shows the air quality index....


https://www.iqair.com/ca/


it takes a minute for the map to load - but it's pretty cool. i'm assuming the white lines are airflow

[gallione11]

The worst thing about this for me aside from being trapped indoors, is since I have only window AC units, I can't use them since they don't have a strong enough filter nor do they have a recirculate option. It hasn't been extremely warm here in Portland, but four days with little airflow and my place is sitting at 80 degrees inside. It's gross. Also supposed to go on a short camping trip this weekend to the beach. Here's hoping the coast air quality clears up a bit in the next few days.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i discovered this site today - it shows the air quality index....


https://www.iqair.com/ca/


it takes a minute for the map to load - but it's pretty cool. i'm assuming the white lines are airflow

Wow, looks like smoke is being pushed out to sea and cycled back into BC from the WNW. Crazy.

[activeStick]

So in Vancouver proper (downtown actually), the smell of smoke has improved but you can very clearly still see it as visibility is very poor when looking out into the distant. I've also started to clear my throat frequently since Sunday which I never did before. I don't have an AC unit and my balcony door is permanently left open since it's still quite warm here.

[afc wimbledon]

better today, I can actually see clouds but its worse to the North, the Mountains are still invisible

[activeStick]

The smoke from the westcoast wildfires have actually travelled all the way to Ontario and Quebec!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...lity-1.5725440

[Mr.Coffee]

The California wildfires have now eclipsed Canada’s oil sands on an annual basis for CO2 emissions. I wonder if any of that will be brought up at the Oscars considering many regions of the fire were caused by avoidable human activity like setting off pyrotechnics at a gender reveal party.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

The California wildfires have now eclipsed Canada’s oil sands on an annual basis for CO2 emissions. I wonder if any of that will be brought up at the Oscars considering many regions of the fire were caused by avoidable human activity like setting off pyrotechnics at a gender reveal party.

Hypocrisy is a bottomless pit, so no.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

The California wildfires have now eclipsed Canada’s oil sands on an annual basis for CO2 emissions. I wonder if any of that will be brought up at the Oscars considering many regions of the fire were caused by avoidable human activity like setting off pyrotechnics at a gender reveal party.

Forests grow back. Old growth doesn't absorb much carbon, young forests absorb a ton. Forests burning down and growing back is a carbon neutral cycle.

[flamesfan1297]

Anybody have any information on when the smoke is supposed to clear up a bit? It's been better the last couple days I think

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by flamesfan1297

Anybody have any information on when the smoke is supposed to clear up a bit? It's been better the last couple days I think

Supposed to get worse over the weekend. I think mid next week it might clear up.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by flamesfan1297

Anybody have any information on when the smoke is supposed to clear up a bit? It's been better the last couple days I think

www.firesmoke.ca and www.windy.com seem to be the best for forecasts.

[Fuzz]

I'm not sure you can count on it going away until there is some rain down there. It may get better or worse, but it won't be going away.

[OMG!WTF!]

www.windy.com shows it clearing up late saturday and sunday looks pretty clear. But www.firesmoke.com looks murky all weekend.