West Coast fires cause of grey, cloudless sky over New Brunswick

For New Brunswickers wondering why the sky has looked a little odd the last few days, grey with no clouds and a sun that seemed dimmer, Dave Phillips has an explanation: smoke from the wildfires in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Utah.

The senior climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada said the smoke is caught in the upper levels of the jet stream at the higher levels, where jet aircraft fly, and has made its way across the country.

"We have seen smoke in New Brunswick at high levels, not at the surface so much, but certainly at high levels. So it's more of a curiosity, more of a conversation piece."

Phillips said the smoke from the fires on the West Coast of the U.S. has made it all the way to Europe.

"I mean it really surrounds the world, was very fast, but in the upper levels"

What brings it down to the surface is either warm air above it, so it traps it like a lid, or a high pressure area, which will force the air down at ground level, but Phillips said that hasn't happened here.

"I don't think that's happened in the Maritimes or Ontario, but certainly we're looking up and out, and we do see the the the ash and the cinders from those smokes and western U.S. fires."

It's not unusual for smoke from fires thousands of kilometres away to reach the East Coast, Phillips said, and it isn't a health risk.

"So, yes, the sun may have been a little dimmer and kind of an orange hue to sunsets and sunrises, but I don't think there were clearly any health issues."

Phillips said people can track the smoke on the Environment Canada website, it appears to be leaving the province.