July 12, 2023 - More Wildfires Erupt in Western Canada

Wildfires
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Thanks to exceptionally dry and hot weather, the 2023 Canadian wildfire
season—which normally runs from April to September—has been a
record-maker.

According to media reports, in early July Canadian officials warned
that the country was likely to face a “long, tough summer”—and that
prediction seems to already be coming true. A brutal heatwave has
gripped parts of the country, bringing temperatures of 100.2˚F (37.9˚C)
to the community of Norman Wells, Northwest Territories (NWT) on July
9, which is the hottest temperature ever measured north of 65˚N
latitude in the Western Hemisphere. It was just short of the record of
100.4˚F (38˚C) set at Verkhoyansk, Russia, a village at a similar
latitude in June 2020. This is very close to the Arctic Circle, which
sits at approximately 66.5˚N latitude.

The scorching temperatures across northwestern and western Canada have
increased fire danger so much that the Canadian forests have nearly
become little more than tinder-boxes just waiting for ignition. When
storms rolled over western Canada on July 7 and 9, there were more than
23,000 lightning strikes recorded in British Columbia alone, and these
sparked more than 200 new wildfires according to BC Wildfire Service.
Because fuel moisture is a key component to how wildfires behave, the
exceptionally dry vegetation means not only fast ignition but also
increases the risk for rapid spread.

As of July 11, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC)
posted that there were 875 active fires burning across Canada, with 48
new starts in the last 24 hours. 533 of these were listed as “out of
control”, with 128 “being held”, and 211 classified as “under control”.
The largest number of fires were found in the west, with the most fires
burning in British Columbia, with Alberta second. The province of
Quebec, in eastern Canada, was in third place. The CIFFC also reported
that there had been a total of 3,904 wildland fires since January 1,
which is well above the average of 2,751. In the same time, 9.5 million
hectares have burnt—an area slightly larger than the U.S. state of
Indiana and well above the previous record of 7.89 million hectares
burnt in 1989.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of wildfires burning
across Western Canada on July 10. Each red “hot spot” marks an area of
heat from an actively burning fire. Provinces visible in this image,
each containing active fires, include (moving from west to east)
British Columbia (with the most fires), Alberta, and Saskatchewan. The
northern tier includes Yukon and Northwest Territories. Dense smoke
smothers much of the region, stretching from Canada’s far north to
sweep over the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/10/2023
Resolutions: 1km (2.2 MB),
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-07-12

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