Archived reports

• Data courtesy of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).
• Check the Air Quality Health Index for air quality in your area.

Priority fires

There are no priority fires.

Interagency mobilization

Canada is at national preparedness level 1, indicating that weather conditions in most of the country are such that significant fire activity is unlikely. Alberta is at preparedness level 3, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan Ontario and Parks Canada are at preparedness level 2, with all other agencies at preparedness level 1. There were 25 lightning-caused fire starts this week. Nationally, fire activity is well below average for this time of year.

At this time, two single resources are being exchanged from Alberta to British Columbia as well as an air tanker group from Manitoba to Saskatchewan. No international crews are currently active in Canada. The United States is at preparedness level 2.

Weekly Synopsis

In British Columbia Category 3 open fires will be prohibited throughout the entire Cariboo Fire Centre region and the T?ilhqot'in (Xeni Gwet'in) Declared Title Area. Alberta has advisories and restrictions covering the northern, central and south portions of the Province with fire bans in the City of Lethbridge, and the Town of Threehills. Northwest Territories has extreme fire danger in the North Slave and South Slave regions and recommend not to light fires unless they are needed for cooking or warmth. Saskatchewan has multiple urban and municipal fire bans in the western regions of the province extending from the Rural Municipality of Loon Lake to the Rural Municipality Loon Lake to the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, and fire restrictions in Lac La Ronge Provincial Park. Nova Scotia has province wide burn restrictions. Prince Edward Island requires burn permits for all outdoor burning from March 15 to November 30.

Yukon, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador have no provincial/territorial fire restrictions in place.

Weather systems have begun slowly moving after stalling for several days. A low pressure area still sitting in the eastern Pacific is driving bands of showers and thundershowers through British Columbia and now Alberta. This movement of Pacific air is slowly nudging east the stubborn ridge of high pressure recently anchored over the central Prairies and southern Territories, although it still blocks moisture from major eastward or northward movement. The large storm system that has lingered over Manitoba and western Ontario is now sitting east of James Bay and is pushing cloud and showers into Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces. The stalled ridges and light thundershower activity have contributed to large fires (several thousand hectares each) in the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and northern Quebec.

Prognosis

The weather pattern continues slow change over the June 8-14 period. The Pacific storm west of British Columbia continues to churn away, driving bands of showers and thundershowers across British Columbia and Alberta. These weaken with eastward movement as they bump into the stubborn ridge that centres over western Hudson Bay by the June 11-12 weekend. Showers and thundershowers are also likely over Yukon and the western Northwest Territories as some of this moisture pushes into the region. The storm system that lingered in Manitoba and western Ontario over the previous week gradually stretches from eastern Ontario to Labrador. This will bring some rain into far northern Quebec, Labrador, and across the Atlantic Provinces, ending the recent period of warm, dry weather, and reducing the fire weather indexes and fire activity. By Tuesday, June 14, the Pacific storm that was off the BC coast appears to move inland. Rain will likely be most widespread in the central and southern Prairies, while warm, dry air remains a bit longer in northern parts of central Canada. Fire weather indexes continue rising in northern parts of the Prairie Provinces, Ontario, the eastern Northwest Territories, and western Nunavut, with fire likely possible or remaining active in these regions.