A phenomenon without danger to health. Important fumes caused by violent and early fire in Canada The northwest of Europe has been flying over the end of Mayat very high altitude, sometimes causing orange twilights, said the European Observatory Copernicus on Tuesday.
“Smokes from forest fires in the Canadian Provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have crossed the Atlantic, reaching Europe in recent days” and “forecasts announce an additional smoke transport this week”, writes Copernicus service for air quality monitoring (CAMS).
Wildfires in Canada produced smoke plumes so large that it was visible 1 million miles from Earth’s surface!@nasa’s EPIC instrument on @noaa’s DSCOVR satellite captured this view on May 31, 2025. pic.twitter.com/NtGtroXMzC
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) June 3, 2025
The satellites observed a transport of smoke, composed in particular of carbon monoxide, across the Atlantic. “A first plume of high altitude smoke crossed the Mediterranean region on May 18 and 19”, reaching “Greece and the eastern Mediterranean”, notes the CAMS.
Mistious sky in Europe
“A second plume of smoke, much more important, crossed the Atlantic (…) the last week of May, reaching northwestern Europe on June 1” and “other plumes should reach the continent in the coming days,” said the press release. According to CAMS online data, a high concentration of carbon monoxide was to fly over North-West France on Tuesday, including the Paris Basin.
In Europe, “planned smoke transport should not have a significant impact on air quality on the surface, because such episodes tend to occur at high altitude,” said Copernicus. “The typical effects of these episodes are manifested by a smaller sky with red/orange sunsets,” adds the observatory.
Manitoba, State of the Center of Canada which has known its worst start to the season of fires for years due to drought, and Saskatchewan (west) said the state of emergency at the end of May and the state of emergency at the end evacuated thousands of inhabitants. “Until the beginning of June, our data show that the Central Regions of Canada experienced a few very intense weeks in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mark Parrington, scientific director at CAMS.
According to forecasts by Canadian authorities, the fire season could be “above normal” in the center and western Canada in June and July, and “well above average” in August, especially due to the serious or extreme drought that rages in several places.
In the rest of the world, Note Copernicus, “large forest fires have been raging in the Federal Federal District of Russia since early April”, in particular in the east of Lake Baikal, having caused the programs of “around 35 carbon megatons” in the atmosphere since early April.