Haines residents who noticed a red hue in the sky over the weekend can blame smoke from historic wildfires currently raging in British Columbia. So far, the pollutants haven’t risen to levels that are harmful for human health, but experts say they’re keeping a close eye on winds for the rest of the summer.
“I watch this pretty much 24-7,” said Mark Smith, the air quality meteorologist for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
The state put out an air quality advisory late last week, warning of potentially unhealthy air throughout Southeast Alaska. The advisory ended on Friday, July 15. Smith said that unofficial air quality readings showed particulate in the air mostly in the “good” range throughout the period of the advisory. Air quality is measured by what’s known as the Air Quality Index, which measures fine particles in the air on a scale of 1 to 500.
“The highest I saw around Haines was up to 56, which is right in the threshold between good and moderate,” said Smith.
Nearly 900 wildfires were burning in British Columbia as of July 17. So far, they’ve burned an area about the size of the entire state of Kentucky. Scientists say the burning is exacerbated by climate change, which has led Canada’s temperatures to warm at about twice the rate of the global average.
Smoke from the fires continues to cause harmful air quality across the Eastern U.S., but in the last week, winds have started to shift to push some of the smoke toward Alaska. Most of the particulate is traveling high in the atmosphere – 10,000 to 15,000 feet in the air – which doesn’t cause any public health concerns. But Smith said if the winds stop blowing, particulates can settle into the river valleys in places like Haines.
For now, there are some things to be grateful for, Smith said. Alaska’s wildfire season has been well below average in terms of acres burned. So far most of the smoke has stayed in the upper atmosphere and hasn’t settled down. Siberia hasn’t had major wildfire activities, which sometimes send smoke to Alaska. Many of the Canadian fires were tampered down by recent rainfall. And, the red sky makes for extra pretty sunsets.
Smith said it’s rare for Southeast Alaska to have serious effects from wildfire smoke. The last time he remembers was in 2019 when Southcentral Alaska had one of its worst fire seasons ever. Still, he said, summer is far from over.
“In the past eight years, we’ve only had one or two days impacted by smoke,” he said. “This year could be a year we’re impacted.”
Haines residents can get the latest updates on air quality advisories on the DEC website. They can also monitor unofficial air quality on the Purple Air website.