"We may be able to see mist or smell smoke." Smoke from multiple forest fires in Canada reached Norway this week, thousands of kilometers from the fires, the Norwegian Institute for Climate and Environmental Research (NILU) warned Thursday.
"Very low" concentrations of smoke particles have been measured since Monday, especially at the Birkenes station in the south of the country, researcher Nikolaos Evangeliou told AFP. Measurements have since varied depending on the intensity of the fires, the direction of the winds and precipitation.
Projected movement of smoke from fires in Canada to northern Europe on June 8, 2023
"We don't think the number of particles in the air in Norway will be large enough to be harmful to health," he says, but "we may be able to see haze or smell smoke."
According to NILU, the smoke has already passed over Greenland and Iceland before reaching Norway.
"No serious spike or significant increase"
For the moment, "we do not see a serious peak or significant increase (...) So we don't see an environmental problem (in Norway) or any serious health risk," he said.
In Canada, the situation is considered exceptional by the authorities in terms of the number of hectares burned at this time of year. The country as a whole is experiencing an unprecedented year: about 2,300 forest fires have been recorded and about 3.8 million hectares have been burned, a total well above the average of recent decades. And the "fires in Quebec caused one of the most intense smoke outbreaks observed in the eastern United States in decades," writes NASA.
Fires in Quebec have delivered one of the most intense outbreaks of smoke seen in the eastern U.S. in decades.
This image from @NOAA's GOES-16 shows smoke sweeping into New York and Pennsylvania on the morning of June 7.
đź”— https://t.co/Rr2dkIHeDz pic.twitter.com/V2Y2VxZq1Q
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) June 8, 2023
It should be noted that southern Norway, like much of the rest of northern Europe, is also experiencing a more pronounced drought than usual.
In the southeast of the country, not a drop of rain has fallen for 16 days and no precipitation is expected by meteorologists in the coming days. Any open fireplace has been banned since Thursday for a period of three weeks.
