Spain Affected By Smoke From Canadian Fires

Canada is experiencing its worst wildfires this century, and the effects are now being felt as far away as Spain and Portugal.

Incredibly a large cloud of particles has travelled 7,000 Kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean, and has already hit parts of Spain and Portugal, writes Nuis Diario, Wednesday, June 28.

Thankfully, experts have issued assurances that the cloud, located high in the atmosphere, does not pose any health risks to the population but is expected to slightly reduce visibility.

Affected Areas In Spain

The effects of the smoke, that comes from Canada’s still-raging fires, have already reached the Iberian Peninsula, with the northwest province of Galicia and also Portugal the first to be affected. Reportedly the effects are also evident in cities such as Madrid, Córdoba and Huelva.

Particles from the fires are visible in the form of a haze, which is soon expected to drift further east and even cover the Canary Islands. However, this is not expected to impact the day-to-day lives of residents.

A similar issue was reported some three weeks ago when northeastern parts of the United States were also affected, particularly New York which was shrouded in an orange-coloured haze.

Huge Devastation In Canada

The fires which continue to ravage Quebec have so far destroyed 7.2 million hectares and appear to have intensified in the last few days, the resulting smoke cloud that has been generated is enormous.

The problem has been ongoing for some considerable time now, earlier this month even firefighters from Spain and Portugal arrived in Canada to help quell the fires.

Haze Particles Are Not Considered A Health Risk

Most of the particles are found in the upper part of the atmosphere and diffuse when they reach the Peninsula, so they do not affect air quality. An Aemet source confirmed that ‘The air quality indices are reasonably good or good in the Iberian Peninsula, which indicates that the concentrations of particles are still low.’

Spokesperson Francisco Infante, speaking on behalf of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) in Galicia said: ‘It is a striking episode, but it is “normal” for these concentrations of smoke suspended in the air to arrive from areas that seem very far away, just as storms arrive after a few days. Now it is weakening, but there has been a very marked flow from west to east in those latitudes that has dragged that smoke from Canada to western Europe and the Iberian Peninsula.’

The air quality for the Canary Islands is expected to be moderate on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but is expected to improve as the atmospheric situation changes.