Smoke from Canadian wildfires detected as far as Norway

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Smoke from multiple forest fires in Canada has reached Norway this week, thousands of miles from the blazes, the Norwegian Institute for Climate and Environmental Research learned on Friday ( NILU). 

“Very low” concentrations of smoke particles have been measured since Monday, in particular at the Birkenes station in the south of the country, researcher Nikolaos Evangeliou told AFP.

The measurements have varied since depending on the intensity of the fires, the direction of the winds and the precipitation.

“We do not see a serious peak or a significant increase […] So we do not see any environmental problem [in Norway] nor any serious health risk,” he said.

In Canada, the situation is considered exceptional by the authorities, in terms of number of hectares burned at this time of the year.

The country as a whole is living through an unprecedented year: approximately 2,300 forest fires have been recorded and approximately 3.8 million hectares have been burned, i.e. a total well above the average of recent decades.

Southern Norway, like much of the rest of northern Europe, is also experiencing a more severe drought than as usual.

In the south-east of the country, not a drop of rain has fallen for 16 days and no precipitation is expected there by meteorologists in the days to come. Any open fireplace has been prohibited there since Thursday for a period of three weeks.