In several U.S. cities, smoke from the Alberta wildfires obscures the sun

This year again, smoke from the wildfires in Alberta has drifted to a number of American quotes, and as a result it may be more cloudy than usual.

The lack of sunlight in America's Upper Midwest can be credited to Alberta's wildfire season, according to the National Weather Service's Twin Cities Branch.

According to FireSmoke Canada, a wildfire smoke information portal, other Canadian regions— including parts of west Ontario and southwest B.C. There are also cloudy skies and smoke-related warnings of air quality.

The website's live smoke tracker also shows largely obscured by smoke in northern U.S. cities such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and Kansas City. The smoke reaches as far south as Denver at the time of this writing.

At this time of year, the smoke from the spring wildfires in Alberta often drifts into North American cities.

Chipewyan Lake Village, about 450 km north of Edmonton, has also been issued an emergency alert by the Alberta government. People were asked to leave immediately due to a fast-moving wildfire that threatens to cut off the area's access.

Various fires also forced evacuations from the High Level hamlet, Wabasca, the Bigstone Cree Nation, and Northern Lights County.

A joint statement was issued on Facebook late Wednesday by High Level Mayor Crystal McAteer, Reeve Josh Knelsen of Mackenzie County and Dene Tha' First Nation Chief James Ahnassay.

"We know many of you are very anxious to hear about what's going on in our communities with the wildfire and the situation. Many of you have been for a long time out of your homes and out of your work, "they wrote.

As of Thursday, 29 fires were burning across Alberta and almost 5,000 people were evacuated from their homes, with a number of cities now on the alert for evacuation. Slave Lake is the newest town to be alerted.

However, a representative from Alberta Wildfire previously told Global News that there are actually fewer wildfires burning this season than there were during the 2018 wildfire season, despite the colossal impact of the fires on the communities of the province.

"We've seen more than 500 wildfires so far in the 2019 wildfire season, which started on March 1," Gagnon previously told Global News.


"In fact, that number is a bit less than we saw in the wildfire season of 2018. But the number of burned hectares is much higher, as are some of the burning wildfires closer to communities.

View the live smoke map here: Firesmoke.ca