Northern Illinois' striking red sunsets a result of unprecedented Canadian wildfires
They've been impossible not to notice for anyone in the suburbs looking skyward lately in the early evenings: intense red sunsets that are the result of forest fires happening over a thousand miles away.
Raging wildfires in Alberta and British Columbia have sent smoke sweeping over southern Canada and the northern United States, and the air pollution is likely contributing to hazy skies here in the Chicago area, said Mark Ratcer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Romeoville office.
With smoke being carried across the Northern Plains and much of the Upper Midwest, the sun looks more red - especially while rising and setting - as it passes through the layer of haze.
"Where there's wildfires that are going on, that smoke gets high up into the atmosphere, and our regular weather patterns take that to different places across North America," Racer said. "There's just like a milkiness to the sky, and a portion of that is smoke that's high aloft across the area."
Carried by the jet stream, smoke has come down across the northern plains and much of the Upper Midwest. The plumes of smoke can be seen in satellite imagery published by NASA's Earth Observatory.
"Intense red sunsets are often visible when forest fires are burning nearby, or when volcanic eruptions happen," according to the UCAR Center for Science Education. "The most heavily polluted cities in the world also tend to have more orange and red sunsets, resulting from an abundance of human-made aerosols. Though the result can be spectacular to observe, it is also an indication of increased air pollution."
As of Tuesday, the fires had scorched 1,800 square miles in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, with the majority of land affected in Alberta. The area is 10-times the average burned for this time of year.
The fires, spurred on by unusually high temperatures, numbered 92 as of Friday. Over 25 of those were considered "out of control," meaning the fires were expected to grow. Unless the region experiences a significant shift that brings a lot of moisture, it is expected to be months before all the fires subside, Alberta officials said.
Because smoke coming from the fires is typically aloft in the jet stream, it doesn't often affect near-surface air quality and typically remains a visibility issue, Racer said - though it can present quality concerns in certain circumstances.
In Minnesota, the state Pollution Control Agency has issued several air quality alerts this week, forecasting the air would be "unhealthy for all" in much of the state and "unhealthy for sensitive groups" in the rest.
Though it is too soon to determine whether the fires are a result of climate change, scientists say the unprecedented fires are in line with the science behind the warming phenomenon, which says extreme weather events are more likely to occur more frequently as the planet warms.
• Jenny Whidden is a climate change and environment writer working with the Daily Herald through a partnership with Report For America supported by The Nature Conservancy. To help support her work with a tax-deductible donation, see dailyherald.com/rfa.