Smoke from Canada wildfires reaches Norway

The smoke from the fires that affect several areas of Canada and the USA reached Norway this week and “it is likely that the smoke cloud will reach other countries”, said today the Norwegian Institute for Climate and Environment Research (NILU).

Today, several people have warned of the smell of smoke and the cloudy landscape on the west coast of Norway, NILU sources told the Europa Press news agency. The organization considered that it is still difficult to confirm the phenomenon, but they assured that the concentrations of smoke in the south of Norway have increased.

Updated calculations carried out by @Nick_Evangeliou, @EckhardtSabine & colleagues at @NILU_now show that smoke from the forest fires in Canada is still drifting in over Norway. It will also reach other parts of Europe over the next few days:https://t.co/7EpkRNPT5Z

– NILU (@NILU_now) June 9, 2023

However, the levels of smoke are low and its density weak, so the possibility of an adverse effect on the health of the population is excluded, indicated the Institute.

“When the smoke arrives in Europe the number of particles is much smaller”, pointed out Nikolaos Evangeliou, a researcher at NILU. “That means we can possibly see the smoke as a fine mist, and maybe smell it, but the amount of particles is so low that it shouldn’t pose any health hazard,” added Evangeliou.

Canada was fighting more than 400 active fires on Tuesday, with the largest share in the province of Quebec, and with almost half out of control. In the province of Quebec alone there are 150 forest fires.

The country recorded 2,293 forest fires this year and around 3.8 million hectares burned, above the average of recent decades.