Global Courant
Rain and cooler temperatures in the forecast for parts of Canada may provide some relief for residents and firefighters who work tirelessly to put out the flames of raging wildfires, an expert says, warning that the country’s fire season isn’t over yet.
“The cooler temperatures, the rain that we’re seeing will help reduce the threat, but not eliminate it,” Dave Phillips, a senior climatologist at Environment Canada, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview.
“And it will also help scrub and clear the air so people aren’t breathing in the kind of nasty chemicals they were when the smoke was at its peak in eastern Canada last week and in Alberta a few weeks ago. So I guess there’s a delay here, but hey, it’s not over yet.
Phillips said the expected rainfall this week in Canada’s east and Atlantic will not put out all the flames, as Canada is a huge country with more than 400 active wildfiresbut the precipitation seen in parts of Ontario and Quebec has extinguished some of the flames, improved air quality in certain areas and reduced the number of out-of-control fires.
“So they’re making progress and obviously some areas have had some good, helpful precipitation, but there are still fires across the country and mostly smoke,” he explained.
The cooler temperatures will also help, Phillips said, because firefighters working to put out the flames won’t face the same “suffocating” hot temperatures and smoke.
However, he warned that things could get worse, noting that there are typically more wildfires in July than any other month in Canada, with more thunderstorms tending to start fires – which he called the “worst nightmare” of the year. called a firefighter.
“Sometimes these fires, when you get a weather system coming in, can have thousands of lightning strikes and this break up like popcorn on the other side of the landscape — you get a fire here, a fire there,” Phillips said.
“So we’ve been practicing really well — almost a full year of fires — and yet the peak of the season isn’t even close.”
Speaking about the situation in Ontario and Quebec at a media briefing Monday, Gerald Cheng, meteorologist for warning preparedness at Environment and Climate Change Canada, shared a similar comment. He said the current weather forecast presents a “very precarious situation” that provincial authorities must monitor closely as they continue to fight the fires.
“Ideally, we would like a lot of rain, but that may not be the case for places where the most active fires are,” Cheng said.
“Moreover, rain or showers are often accompanied by a chance of thunderstorms. And if there is a risk of thunder, there will be lightning, which can start new fires.
To date, about 4.9 million acres have burned in Canada this year, far exceeding the annual average of 2.1 million acres burned in an entire fire season. More than 1,000 firefighters have arrived from abroad to help put out the relentless flames.
Phillips said the fact that Canada was “bone dry” from coast to coast from the beginning of the year to early June was what caused the kind of wildfires to start and spread. And as weather conditions are expected to be warmer and drier than usual this summer, he predicted that Canada is likely to have a long battle ahead and stressed that Canadians will need to be “vigilant” and respect fire bans and do their best to prevent fires. break out.
For now, however, he said the rain and cooler temperatures offer “a glimmer of hope” in the unprecedented fire season.
“It’s better. I mean, I still think there are fires in every province, I mean even in the Maritimes, I’m sure there are some fires somewhere, but the hot spots have gotten smaller and in a way more important Not only are there fewer flames, but also less smoke.”
