The wildfires in Canada have sent giant plumes of smoke into the sky and it has drifted into the Midwest.

NOAA HRRR-smoke
NOAA HRRR-smoke
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The wildfire smoke is not expected to cause air quality issues at the surface, but you'll likely notice a hazy quality to our skies over the next several days, including beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

 

Throughout the United States, 44 large fires have burned 667,509 acres, as of Friday morning. So far this year, there have been over 30,000 wildfires that have charred up nearly 1.5 million acres -- which is already more than last year's total. 12 states are currently reporting wildfires within their state boundaries, the most in Arizona with 14 reported fires.

In Northwest Canada, after three days of record-breaking heat, a wildfire tore through the town of Lytton (95 miles) northeast of Vancouver. It was moving so fast that officials didn’t even have time to issue evacuation orders.

The entire town was engulfed in just 15 minutes.

Canada has about 9% of the world’s forests. Each year over the last 25 years, about 7,300 forest fires have occurred.

As of Friday morning, 43 new fires were reported across Canada with a total of nearly 150 active fires.

Tap HERE for an interactive wildfire map.

 

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