A map shared Sunday showed where wildfires have broken out throughout Canada in 2023, and it’s mind-blowing.
The map, shared by amateur meteorologist Colin McCarthy, showed the insanely unprecedented extent of Canada’s wildfire season throughout 2023. The western half of Canada was clearly hit the hardest, but almost the entire country seemed to be engulfed in flames at various times.
Along with the map, McCarthy noted that just 5% of Canada’s forest area burned, totaling roughly 43 million acres. This is more than two and a half times the amount that burned in 2022.
The 2023 Canadian wildfire season has been unprecedented:
– 5% of Canada’s forest area burned
– 43 million acres of forest scorched, greater than the size of Florida
– 3x more carbon produced than previous record wildfire year
– 2.5x more acres burned than previous record year pic.twitter.com/xRA5UaAxdH— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) September 18, 2023
It’s unclear why so much of Canada was ravaged by wildfires in 2023, but it follows a global trend of devastating natural disasters. Thousands were evacuated from their homes across Canada. But thanks to Canada’s fairly extreme censorship laws, there are a lot of details that are just unknown. (RELATED: Officials Warn Wildfire Smoke May Last Through September In US)
For example, there is essentially no confirmed death toll from the fires. We know that more than 6,100 fires have erupted and at least four wildland firefighters were killed, according to CBC. We haven’t even really seen any photographs or videos.
But other than that, Canada has failed to share any other significant details on the loss of life, property, those impacted, and how so many fires started. Smoke from Canada’s wildfires plagued much of the U.S. throughout the year. But, finally, it seems that things have started to clear.