Hazy Skies Caused by Canadian Fires
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Smoke from Canadian Wildfires Causes Haze in Sky
Have you woken up the past few days and taken a look outside to think that it was going to be a hot and humid day outside due to how hazy it has been at dawn, only to be confused once you saw the low dew points and humidity? Well, our weather pattern has shifted to where the upper level winds are coming out of the northwest, which means that any particles would be transported from southern Canada into our region.
Fig 1: 250mb Winds showing the path that any upper level particle would take
Recently, there have been numerous wild fires up in northern Saskatchewan that has created a large amount of smoke and particulates in that region. These particles can easily rise up to 250mb and be transported downstream.
Fig 2: USDA MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program from July 26th showing a high concentration of wild fires in northern Saskatchewan. (http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/canada/) With our upper level winds originating in this region, it has brought down a lot of smoke particles along with it, thus creating a hazy sky rather than the crystal clear blue skies that we would normally see with a ridge of high pressure over place.
Fig 3: Visible Satellite from 7 a.m. Sunday morning with the area in yellow highlighting where the hazy skies can be noted.
The northwesterly flow is expected to continue through the rest of the work week, so the hazy skies may continue as long as the fires continue in northern Canada. |
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