[Cyclopath]

Scenic views are important to a lot of hikers, and this might affect your plans, so it's good to be aware. Alberta is a large place, about 4x the land area of WA. There are currently 86 fires, spread around the provence (not all grouped in one place). 24 of those fires are classed as "out of control." About 20,000 people have been evacuated so far. If the sun looked a little reddish brown today, here is why:

It's the middle of May. Long term outlook is uncertain, but not ideal. They're a good chance the hiking season will be cut short this year. You should go out on every good day and enjoy it while the getting is good.

[altasnob]

10 day forecast shows a decent amount of rain over Alberta about a week out. Let's hope that happens.

[Cyclopath]

The moon and Jupiter this morning from Bellevue, through the wildfire smoke.

[Eric Hansen]

https://firesmoke.ca Animation map shows smoke plumes. Memory has some discussion here in the past wondering how they calibrate that animation. https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/outlooks/NA_Outlook.pdf Check these maps. Predictive services perceives a widespread red zone (increased odds of fire) just north of the Canadian border for the next several months. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/05/17/calgary-wildfire-smoke-alberta-united-states/ lead paragraphs: "On Tuesday, smoke from wildfires raging in Alberta descended over Calgary, the province’s largest city. Air pollution climbed to double the level considered hazardous, while the thick haze gave off an acrid smell, glowed orange and reduced visibility to half a mile. The smoke was so thick in the region that its air quality was among the worst in the world, and it is expected to remain similarly poor Wednesday and perhaps longer as the Alberta fires continue."

[cdestroyer]

alberta smoke here in the deer lodge valley, a tad early in the year for this already!

[Cyclopath]

[NationalParkAddict]

Been pretty dry up there this winter/spring because most of the storms on the west coast have been going south (Oregon and California),and leaving further north, dry. All it takes now to start big fires is dry wind and a spark of fire, and unfortunately that has been happening. Hope those fires get put out either naturally or by fire fighters. Atleast some weather models/ensembles are showing rain up there starting in about a week, and some of them show a big late season snowstorm around Banff in 10 days, but that's 10 days out, and weather forecasts are basically useless that far out. Fingers crossed though, for rain/snow to put out the fires!

[Cyclopath]

Seattle sunrise May 18

Edit to add: this is not my photo, somebody posted this elsewhere and it's relevant here so I'm sharing the info.

[cdestroyer]

as of noon today the smoke has thickened to the point I can no longer see the mountains that surround the valley. it is as bad as in past years of terrible wildfires, and we haven't even started burning in the state yet!!

[Pyrites]

Long summer to come? Look up Hay River, AB, in Wikipedia. More precipitation in summer than winter. Not much overall. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/alberta-wildfires-map-1.6838361

[Eric Hansen]

One other Canadian resource (calibrating fire danger) map here. Various useful overlays: fire danger level, active fires classified by "out of control" "being held" or "under control" https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/interactive-map?_gl=1*18fl1ho*_ga*MTcxODAxMTg3OC4xNjg1NTUwOTc2*_ga_C2N57Y7DX5*MTY4NTU1MzU1My4yLjAuMTY4NTU1MzU1My4wLjAuMA..