Canadian wildfires sent so much smoke into U.S. cities in June that this season already qualifies as the worst smoke season in recent memory, according to an analysis of smoke exposure per person across the country recently completed by Stanford University researchers.
“This is the worst year since 2006,” said Marshall Burke, an associate professor of Earth system science at Stanford, who added that it was a remarkable measure because the “wildfire season we’re used to hasn’t even started yet.”
The June haze events were a wake-up call to communities unprepared for wildfire smoke, delaying hundreds of flights on the East Coast, shuttering outdoor events like baseball games and increasing hospital visits for ailments like asthma.
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But they’re likely just the start of the nation’s smoke troubles this season, according to wildfire experts, who expect Canada’s fires to belch smoke all summer and who also see conditions brewing for wildfire in parts of the U.S., including in the Pacific Northwest and the upper Midwest.
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