maaxx.ca

JAKARTA – Americans witnessed an extraordinary bright red sun last week. The sight makes for beautiful photos, but the cause of the change is not pleasant.

The bright colour is caused by 84 forest fires that have hit parts of Canada, including Alberta, and are expected to continue burning in the coming days.

Smoke from the ongoing wildfires spread 3,600 km, creating a layer of haze that covered the sun, making it appear an emergency red. Residents of New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Illinois and Iowa were among those who witnessed the bright red sun.

Meteorologists say the smoke particles are carried by jet stream across the United States to the northeast, causing poor air quality. The bright red color is caused by smoke particles filtering out shorter wavelengths of light, so that only red and orange wavelengths are visible. The sun also appeared dim because of the thick smoke blowing from Canada.

Wildfires have burned nearly a million hectares in western Canada, mostly in the northwestern province of Alberta. More than 30,000 people have been evacuated from the region to escape the fires.

The fires broke out because Canada experienced an unusually dry spring accompanied by a heat wave.

National Weather Service (NWS) in Montana said the air quality was very unhealthy and advised people to stay indoors if possible. The same warning was issued for eastern Colorado.

“If smoke is heavy or becomes heavy in your area, you may want to stay indoors. This is especially true for people with heart conditions, respiratory conditions, young children and the elderly,” the warning says.

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality also warned that air quality would remain “unhealthy for sensitive groups” through Monday, May 20.

However, the NWS in New York said the smoke was above 20,000 feet and would not cause health problems for people with respiratory illnesses in the northeastern United States.

While Canadians battle the fires, Americans have been watching red sunrises and sunsets for over a week. “Look at the very red sun rising over New York City. This is due to wildfire smoke moving over us from the wildfires in Canada,” the NWS wrote, as quoted by the NWS. Daily Mail.

The tweet then sparked shares of sunrise and sunset images that appeared to have been taken with a camera filter.

Satellite images shared by the NWS show smoke moving across the northern United States and blanketing eastern states with pollutants.

Alberta officials are hoping cooler temperatures and rain in the coming weeks will help firefighters battle blazes in the oil-rich province, although storms could hamper those efforts.

This year, Alberta Wildfire responded to 496 fires burning more than two million hectares, compared to just 1,134 fires in 2022.

“This year’s total is nearly 2,000 times greater than last year’s,” Christie Tucker, Alberta Wildfire’s information unit manager, said in a statement.

However, the strange red sun has been visible since last week and is expected to persist in the coming days.

This year’s record temperatures and lack of rain have caused widespread fires across Canada.

Alberta was hardest hit, with about 275 homes, businesses and other properties damaged and more than 10,000 people forced to evacuate their homes Friday.

Josée St-Onge, Alberta Wildfire information officer, said in an interview with Radio-Canada On Saturday morning, May 20, the firefighters continued their work.

“Good progress has been made in containing many of these bushfires, building fences and fire stations around communities, but we face a challenging day today,” he said.

“It’s definitely going to be a long journey. A fire of this magnitude is going to burn very intensely,” St-Onge added.