A lack of late winter snowpack and persistent high pressure has dried out the soils and built the heat early over Western Canada. With a gusty wind thrown in for good measure, the stage was set for what could be one of Canada’s worst wildfires.

Here’s the Omega blocking pattern responsible for driving summer warmth north early.

Core of heat and greatest positive departure from normal is parked directly over Alberta and Saskatchewan today!

A wildfire which started just a few days ago, 270 miles north of Edmonton sparked the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta history. Up to 80,000 throughout Fort McMurray we’re forced to leave their homes as the fire grew and spread towards the city.

These are the scenes we’re seeing out of Fort McMurray.

Yes, this fire is so intense that it’s producing it’s own lightning via pyrocumulous cloud formation.

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Dry ground and vegetation, high heat, low humidity and gusty wind are all combining to make the perfect conditions for wild fire development and growth.

The heat core is slowly shifting from Alberta into Saskatchewan.

Today

Thursday

See this morning’s video.

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