“The maps don’t tell the full story of the smoke,” said emergency coordinator Lisa Huang. “Even when a fire is far north, the wind pattern can bring hazardous particulate matter into heavily populated regions for days.”
“These are deep-burning organic soils in many areas. Rain slows them down, but it doesn’t put them out,” explained fire behavior analyst Marc Tremblay. “What we’re seeing on the maps—those clusters of red dots—represent fires that can smolder underground for weeks and then reignite with wind.” “The maps don’t tell the full story of
One of the most striking features of the current maps is not just where fires are burning, but where the smoke is going. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued smoke forecasts showing plumes from Quebec and Ontario drifting across the Great Lakes and into the American Midwest and Northeast. “What we’re seeing on the maps—those clusters of