Smog warning from brush fire
The weather page has a smog warning Sunday in addition to the heat wave warning. This is smoke coming from a big brush fire around Kamouraska, a long way downriver.
With any luck, the giant dust plume from the Sahara will miss us entirely.
Su 13:02 on 2020-06-21 Permalink
Actually this is a peat bog fire burning in Kamouraska. As peat bogs dry out due to drought conditions they become tinderboxes in the same way as plant pots on balconies.
https://wildfiretoday.com/2015/01/12/new-research-outlines-global-threat-of-smoldering-peat-fires/
Kate 14:51 on 2020-06-21 Permalink
I never think of peat being something we have, but of it being an old world thing – Ireland, Siberia, places like that. But no reason why not. I do know it releases a lot of carbon when it burns.
Blork 15:01 on 2020-06-21 Permalink
Yeah, I didn’t know we even had peat bogs around here.
BTW, that Sahara dust storm story is so very 2020, isn’t it? (What’s hiding in that dust cloud? Bacteria? Viruses? Locusts?)
mare 15:33 on 2020-06-21 Permalink
@Blork is angling for a tenured position at McGill.
Raymond Lutz 16:04 on 2020-06-21 Permalink
Des tourbières au Québec???
@Blork, according to the ‘Find the nearest peat bog’ android app, there’s even one 10 km from le parc Michel-Chartrand! https://famille.lutz.quebec/index.php/s/gHe7Z9XimN2oCAL (it’s at the 20 and 30 intersection)
Peat bogs are fascinating ecosystems and some are well ‘mises en valeur’ for the casual tourist. I highly recommend visiting “Le petit monde de la tourbière au parc national de Frontenac” (Le Devoir)
Kate 16:15 on 2020-06-21 Permalink
In Ireland, people can buy peat at the corner store and bring it home to burn in their fireplace. I don’t think we have that here.
Blork 10:36 on 2020-06-22 Permalink
Certain single malts only taste right if you sip them in a damp cottage on a rainy evening in front of a smouldering peat fire.
Ian 08:18 on 2020-06-23 Permalink
@Kate considering we aren’t even allowed to have fireplaces anymore I can only assume that your chances of sitting in front of a peat fire in Montreal are pretty much non-existant unless you do it on the sly in a barrel in your backyard and hope nobody calls the fire department. Not quite as romantic as a cottage on a rainy day with a peaty single malt.