How weather can impact Canada Day firework displays
Rain, wind, humidity — these different types of weather each have their own impact on firework displays.
Just like with any other event occurring in the sky — celestial or terrestrial — weather conditions can have a big impact on our enjoyment of a fireworks show. The weather forecast can even prompt organizers to postpone or cancel a show.
The best weather for a fireworks show is probably a clear, starry night, so that the pyrotechnics simply add to the natural splendor of the scenery. Different types of weather have their own impacts on firework displays, though.
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Clouds typically are not much of a hindrance. The smallest firework shells explode around 120 metres up, while the largest detonate around 350 metres above the ground. With a typical cloud-base starting at around 1 kilometre, unless there is thick fog or a very low layer of stratus clouds, the fireworks will still remain in full view of the crowd.
Rain is a different matter. Due to firework shells being air-tight, unless they are soaked through, they will still tend to work even if set off when it's raining. However, keeping the fuses dry becomes a concern, depending on the intensity of the rainfall. A light drizzle won't impede the show, but a heavy downpour will at least postpone it, or possibly even lead organizers to cancel the festivities. Plus, there's the comfort of the spectators to take into consideration.
Sitting outside during a thunderstorm is not advisable under any conditions. As the saying goes, "When thunder roars, go indoors!" During a fireworks show, though, new dangers crop up. Although the possibility is quite remote, if lightning were to strike at or near where the fireworks are stored, it could set them all off at once, creating an extremely hazardous situation for anyone in the area.
Wind is the most common concern for fireworks — both the wind direction and how hard the wind is blowing.
Partly, this is a matter of ensuring the wind does not cause firework shells to stray beyond where they are supposed to go off. However, wind can also carry the smoke and other debris from the firework shells across the assembled crowd, which can be hazardous to their health.
The same holds true for a lack of wind, as the stagnant air becomes thicker with smoke as the show progresses. That would make it more difficult to see the firework displays, but would also pose an air quality health risk to those in attendance.
This lack of wind can also be a problem the morning after a fireworks show. This is due to a weather phenomenon known as a temperature inversion.
An inversion can be a concern on any day of the year. It effectively cuts off the air closest to the ground from the rest of the atmosphere. Thus, it limits the volume of air available for pollution from cars, industry, and power generation to mix into. This results in these pollutants becoming more concentrated, the longer the inversion persists.
However, the day after a fireworks show can be even worse, as the smoke produced during the event lingers and mixes in with the typical urban air pollution to degrade the air quality even further.
Finally, while temperature is rarely a problem, except perhaps in the case of an extreme heatwave, humidity does have an impact.
During high humidity, the colours of the fireworks can actually become more muted, as the high water content of the air causes the light to be more scattered before it reaches our eyes. At the other end of the scale, extremely dry conditions can prompt authorities to cancel a firework show and ban the use of all fireworks, due to the threat of grass fires and wildfires.
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Fire bans and firework bans
Many municipalities across the country specifically ban the purchasing or use of fireworks by the public. Meanwhile, others restrict their use only to specific days of the year. For example, Vancouver has banned fireworks within city limits since 2016, while Toronto only allows them on national holidays like Victoria Day and Canada Day. Check your local community's rules, just to be sure.
Outside of these communities, drought and fire hazard conditions dictate whether it is wise, or even legal, to use fireworks.
The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System, from Natural Resources Canada, maps out drought and fire danger based on soil moisture, availability of fuel (trees and undergrowth), and weather conditions.
Agencies in the individual provinces handle wildfire management, though, and are responsible for issuing bans or restrictions on lighting fires. These often include limits or bans on the use of fireworks, as well.
The following information is up to date as of June 25, 2025.
Due to dry conditions, all six of British Columbia's six Fire Centre regions — Cariboo, Coastal, Kamloops, Northwest, Prince George, and Southeast — all have some kind of fire prohibition or restriction in place.
In Alberta, there are numerous fire advisories, restrictions, and bans throughout the province. These are mainly concentrated throughout Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, and throughout the eastern half of the province. There are also fire advisories in effect surrounding the City of Edmonton, between Calgary and Lethbridge, and in the northwest, around and north of the town of Grande Prairie.
Due to abnormally dry conditions across parts of Saskatchewan, a few dozen counties throughout the southern half of the province currently have either a restriction or full ban on fires. These often include a ban on fireworks, as well.
In Manitoba, the only area of the province that does not have some kind of fire restriction is the south-central and southwestern part, including the City of Winnipeg.
For Ontario, recent rainy weather has lowered fire danger ratings across most of the province. Only regions around and to the northwest of the Greater Sudbury Area, as well as a swath through eastern Ontario from Kawartha Lakes to Carleton Place and north to Pembroke and Petawawa have high fire danger ratings at this time.
Throughout Quebec, much of the province has only low or moderate fire danger, with high rating continuing from the Pembroke area in Ontario east through Montreal and up the St. Lawrence Valley as far as Lotbinière. The regions to the south of Montreal currently have very high danger ratings. There are also a few regions of high or very high fire danger throughout northern Quebec.
Due to favourable weather, there are no burn restrictions throughout New Brunswick at this time.
Meanwhile, Prince Edward Island has banned all burning between the hours of 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., daily, and there is a complete ban on all burning, at all times, throughout all of Nova Scotia.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, although the only regions with high fire hazard ratings are centred around Bishop's Falls and north of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, a complete ban on all fires has been issued throughout the province.