The Forest Fire In Canada Causes A Bright Red Sun, Here's The Reason

The sun looks red because of forest fires in Canada. (photo: screenshot of NWS)

JAKARTA - American citizens have seen an extraordinary red and bright sun in the past week. This sight produces beautiful photos, but the cause of this change is unpleasant.

The sunny colors were caused by 84 forest fires that hit parts of Canada, particularly in Alberta, and are expected to continue over the next few days.

Smoke from the ongoing fires has spread for a distance of 2,000 miles (3600 km), creating a layer of fog that envelopes the sun, making it look red and emergency. Residents in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Illinois, and Iowa are some of those watching this bright red sun.

Meteorologists said smoke particles were carried by streaming jets across the United States into the northeast, causing poor air quality. The burning bright red color is caused by smoke particles screening shorter wavelengths of light, so only red and orange wavelengths are visible. The sun also appears dim due to thick smoke blowing from Canada.

The forest fires have scorched nearly a million hectares in western Canada, mainly in northwesternern Alberta Province. More than 30,000 people have been evacuated from the area to avoid fires.

The fire started because Canada experienced an unusual dry spring accompanied by heat waves.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Montana stated that the air quality is very unhealthy and suggests that people stay indoors if possible. The same warning was also issued to eastern Colorado.

"If smoke is thick or thick around your environment, you may want to stay indoors. This mainly applies to those who have heart disease, respiratory disease, toddlers, and the elderly," the warning read.

Utah's Department of Environmental Quality also warned that air quality would remain "unhealthy for sensitive groups" until Monday, May 20.

However, NWS in New York said the smoke was at an altitude of more than 20,000 feet and would not cause health problems for people with respiratory illnesses in the northeastern region of the United States.

While Canadians fought the fire, Americans have seen the red sunrise and sunset for more than a week. "Very red sun rises over New York City. This is caused by smoke from forest fires moving above us from fires in Canada," wrote NWS, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

The tweet then triggered the sharing of images of the sunrise and sunset which seemed to be taken with a camera filter.

Satellite images shared by NWS show smoke flowing across the northern part of the United States and blanketing the eastern state with pollutants.

Alberta authorities hope the colder temperatures and rains predicted in the next few weeks will help firefighters fight fires in the oil-rich province, although the storm could hamper the effort.

This year, Alberta Wildfire has handled 496 fires that burned more than two million hectares, compared to just 1,134 fires in 2022.

"This year's total is almost 2,000 times more than last year," Christie Tucker, the information unit manager at Alberta Wildfire, said in a statement.

However, a frightening red sun has been seen over the past week and is expected to continue in the next few days.

Temperatures hit high records this year and lack of rain have caused fires to spread in Canada.

Alberta is the worst-affected area, with about 275 houses, businesses, and other properties damaged and more than 10,000 people forced to flee their homes until Friday.

Josee St-Onge, information officer Alberta Wildfire, said in an interview with CBC on Saturday morning May 20 that the fire fighting team was continuing to work.

"Good progress in dealing with many of these forest fires, building line fences and firestations around the community, but we are facing a challenging day today," he said.

"This is definitely going to be a long journey. Fires of this size will burn very intensely," added St-Onge.