A massive wildfire smoke plume emitted by Alberta wildfires swirls above the Arctic Sept. 16. Image: EU, Copernicus Sentinel-3.
Just days away from summer's end, Canada's worst wildfire season on record isn't letting up.
Why it matters: The fires have forced thousands of people to flee their homes and likely caused billions of dollars in damages and economic losses.
Threat level: The fires have released hundreds of megatonnes of carbon dioxide that will contribute to global warming, which made the blazes more likely and intense to begin with.
- Wildfire smoke, as pictured above, has repeatedly degraded air quality in cities across North America, even at times crossing the Atlantic Ocean to affect European skies.
By the numbers: Over 900 fires were burning across Canada on Wednesday, including more than 500 that were out of control.
- So far, over 6,300 fires have burned an estimated 43.4 million acres — an area almost the size of Oklahoma.
State of play: Fire seasons typically taper off and are mostly over by the end of October, but Canadian officials say this year is unprecedented.
- Dozens of blazes have formed massive smoke-infused storm clouds, called pyrocumulonimbus, that blast large amounts of smoke particles into Earth's atmosphere.
The big picture: The U.S. has had a below-average season in terms of acreage burned, but the number of fires it has had is mostly in line with 10-year averages.