Massive wildfires erupt in Canada for third straight year

Blocking high pressure in Canada is keeping the U.S. weather pattern somewhat stagnant. Another spike toward what the map might look like in winter is ahead as high pressure builds west and a new jet stream dip develops east.

Weather Watch

Soggy east. It’s raining in the Mid-Atlantic (and my backyard) this morning, with more to come today. A storm system seems likely to develop late week into the weekend on the East Coast. For now, it wants to track a bit inland compared to last week’s nor’easter.

Alvinnn! The first named storm in our part of the world for 2025 looks to end up in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The name will be Alvin, and it may become a hurricane before curving northward to threaten Mexico.

Summer preview. Our western U.S. heat wave is still on tap Friday and Saturday. Relatively short, it’ll still hurt. Two days of highs 100 to 105 are expected in Sacramento, where heat advisories are now in effect.

Lightning links

My 2016 storm chase partner made a huge catch in New Mexico this past weekend. It was almost exactly the anniversary of our best day ever.

Watch: Flood waters rapidly fill Australia's Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.

Fires erupt across Canada, again

The fire season in Canada is off to a big start. It’s already on its way to being the third year in a row of well above average wildfire activity in the country.

Thousands have been evacuated across portions of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. The Shoe Fire in Saskatchewan has burned about half a million acres.

Fire risk is also presently high to extreme, nearly coast to coast.

Wildfires are scorching the land as temperatures run 10 to 20-plus degrees above normal in the heart of the country.

Both of the last two seasons were high end fire years in Canada. During 2023, it set a record for acreage burned, breaking the old by more than 2x.

Some of the smoke could get dragged into the United States later week or this weekend as low pressure intensifies in the Northeast.

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Weekday morning newsletter by a journalist/forecaster. Connecting weather and climate change dots while occasionally stirring the pot.

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