2023-06-28 07:29:09
The smoke from the fires that have affected Canada for several weeks reached Montreal on Sunday, making the Quebec city the most polluted city in the world. These clouds are now pushed by a powerful westerly wind, which sends them towards Europe. Belgium is affected from this Wednesday, according to models from the Copernicus atmosphere monitoring service, managed by the European Center for Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
On Sunday, 81 forest fires were still announced active in Quebec, including 27 considered out of control. These fires cause dense clouds with a high concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) and fine particles, which are dangerous to health.
The Interregional Environment Unit wants to be reassuring
These fumes moved over the Atlantic Ocean and reached Belgium on Wednesday. The Interregional Environment Unit (Celine), responsible for monitoring air quality in Belgium, is however reassuring about the impact of this cloudy sky.
“These will mainly be high altitude clouds and these will not have a critical impact on the air quality on the ground”, explains Philippe Maetz, scientific collaborator and spokesperson for Celine. “It is an exceptional event, indeed, but we have already experienced the same thing in September 2020 when the fumes from the impressive fires in California had reached Europe. This is spectacular when looking at satellite maps, but the impact on air quality is not first not important. »
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