Smoke Forecasts for Western Canada
The animation provides an hour-by-hour forecast of smoke from wildfires in Western Canada up to 48 hours in the future. Different exposure levels of smoke are provided in colours that correspond to different concentrations of PM2.5 at ground-level. The time displayed at each forecast time-step is in Pacific Daylight Time. The forecast is updated twice a day.
The output is considered experimental as the forecast is produced by a system that is an ongoing research project. For example the system relies on satellites to detect fires. If there is cloud cover or smoke that obscures their detection from space, the resulting smoke from these fires will not be accounted for in the forecast.
For users with the Google Earth desktop client, the smoke forecast is also available via Google Earth for:
See Viewing the Western Canada BlueSky Wildfire Smoke Forecasts in Google Earth (PDF: 76 KB/1 page) for instructions on using the KMZ files in Google Earth. Download Google Earth.
These smoke forecasts are produced by the Western Canada BlueSky Smoke Forecasting System operating at the University of British Columbia. For more detailed information about the system, see The BlueSky Western Canada Wildfire Smoke Forecasting System (PDF: 836 KB/8 pages). The system was developed through the collaborative efforts of the following partners: B.C. Ministry of Environment, B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Alberta Department of Environment, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, Manitoba Health, Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, University of British Columbia, and the United States Parks Service.
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Comments on the output, or questions about the system and forecasts should be directed to: bcairquality@gov.bc.ca.
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