• The hazy skies that have plagued Michigan this summer stem from a near-record year of wildfires in Canada
• While some politicians blame poor forest management on Canada’s part, experts say those complaints are misguided
• Climate change is the main driver of modern megafires and the US is a key culprit

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Shifting winds have given Michigan a respite from the wildfire smoke that has repeatedly blanketed the state this summer (and last summer and the summer before that), but don’t expect it to last.

That’s the conclusion of experts who spoke to Bridge Michigan about the megafires growing increasingly common in the western US and Canada, resulting in unsafe air even thousands of miles away.

Southerly winds have temporarily pushed out the Canadian smoke that hovered over Michigan last week, polluting the air with fine particles, ozone and other pollutants that can harm the lungs, heart and even the brain. Children, pregnant people, the elderly, outdoor workers, and people with preexisting health conditions were particularly at risk.

But, with tens of millions of acres burning in Canada and the US this summer, meteorologists say it’s only a matter of time before the plume returns.

“It kind of goes week to week,” said Alec Kownacki, a meteorologist with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, where staff have had “our eyes glued to the screen,” monitoring ever-changing weather models.

Welcome to Michigan’s new normal.

Recordbreaking wildfires like the ones now burning in Canada are the product of worsening climate change and misguided forest management practices — such as decades of suppressing fires, which has allowed brush, branches and other downed fuel to build up — that have turned North America’s forests into tinderboxes.
The upshot for the less fire-prone eastern US?

“Having a smoke season is becoming more routine,” said Richard Rood, a professor emeritus of climate and space sciences at the University of Michigan.

Oh, Canada

Canada is in the middle of its second-worst wildfire season on record, with more than 4,000 fires so far this year that have burned 18.3 million acres.

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In Michigan, the resulting smoke has prompted repeated air quality alerts and inspired some Republican lawmakers to issue public statements and write letters blaming the problem on Canada’s government.

“For the third summer in a row, Michiganders are forced to breathe hazardous air as a result of Canada’s failure to prevent and control wildfires,” read a joint statement Aug. 6 from seven Michigan congressional Republicans.

The group called for “immediate and decisive action to contain these fires and prevent future wildfires,”without offering any specific ideas about what Canada should do.

In a separate Aug. 1 statement, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller urged US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra to “make some noise” about the need for more prescribed burns and “thinning of combustible materials” in Canadian forests.

Climatologists and fire experts told Bridge Michigan those demands are unrealistic.

Climate change is the primary driver of worsening wildfires, said Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, a forest fire expert at Michigan Technological University, and Canadian officials “can’t control the weather.”

While it’s true that land use practices have further heightened fire risk, the issue is not unique to Canada and there are no quick fixes, said Chad Papa, director of the Michigan State University Forest Carbon and Climate Program.

North America’s forests evolved with fire. Indeed, species like the black spruce require it for seed germination. But governments and the timber industry spent generations managing forests with the goal of suppressing fires and maximizing timber harvests, resulting in a buildup of dead trees, branches and brush that left forests with “a lot more flammable material in them,” Papa said. 

Wildfires in those altered forests are often more intense, long-lasting and harder to fight. 

Solutions include reintroducing fire back onto the landscape through controlled burns and finding a marketable use for the scraggly trees and branches that would otherwise be left behind.

But “there is no short-term or easy fix,” Papa said.

The climate imprint

Human-caused climate change has been found to be the biggest driver of modern megafires.And the US is the world’s leading source of the problem, having emitted more planet-warming greenhouse gases than any other country.

The impact of those emissions is felt around the globe.

Extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled worldwide over a 21-year period, with the biggest increase in the evergreen forests of the Western US, Canada and Russia.

In the United States, the average area burned has increased by nearly 0.5 acres per square mile since 2003 — a trend that’s far more pronounced in the arid Western states. 

As the planet warms, snowpack is melting earlier, depriving forests of moisture ahead of the dry summer months. Warmer spring and fall temperatures also result in longer fire seasons. And the cool summer nights that once helped contain fires are now growing rare.

The result, Rood said, is “massive, massive fires” that are more difficult to put out.

Boreal forests, the vast conifer expanses of Alaska, Canada and Russia, are particularly vulnerable. Papa said that’s in part because the soils beneath them are teeming with the carbon-rich remains of decayed plants and animals.

Like wood, it is flammable when dry.

What now?

For now, Michigan is free of the unhealthy air that sank down to ground level last week.
As of Monday afternoon, the federal AirNow fire and smoke map showed a vast smoke plume from North American wildfires reaching all the way to Iceland, but the Great Lakes region was no longer its epicenter.

Northerly winds like the one that blew smoke into Michigan last week are a relative rarity this time of year, said Kownacki.

“Our prevailing winds are west-southwest during the summertime,” he said.

But the Canadian wildfire season typically lasts until October, leaving plenty of time for another northerly.

And barring radical changes to energy policies in the US and abroad, humanity’s continued reliance on fossil fuels will only produce more and bigger fires in the years to come, Rood said.

His advice to Michiganders? Develop a strategy for coping with smoky days.

For those with the financial means, that may mean closing windows, purchasing an indoor air purifier or running an air conditioner equipped with filtration. Those who can’t avoid the smoke as easily — such as the homeless — should avoid strenuous activities and wear a smoke-filtering mask like an N95 if possible.

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