Hot, dry weather drives fire risk in parts of Alberta to extremes
A large part of Alberta is under very high or extreme fire risk, according to a fire danger map from the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, and a long stretch of dry and hot weather is to blame.
A swath of red, yellow and orange covers most of Alberta on the map, and extreme risk covers almost every major city in the province.
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In Edmonton, the weather station at Blatchford went 34 days without recording a measurable amount of precipitation, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada scientist Christy Climenhaga.
"Alberta really stands out as having very little to — in some areas — almost no precipitation in the last month," she said in an interview Monday.
Measuring precipitation can be difficult, but even considering that, Climenhaga said it is unusual to go more than 30 days with no measurable rain at this time of year.
Western Canada wildfire danger rating for Wednesday, Sept. 24.
That lack of rain has contributed to drought intensity in the northern part of the province remaining between moderate and severe drought.
The temperature also hasn't helped.
"It's been very, very hot for much of September," Climenhaga said.
"We've had temperatures in the 20s — high 20s — close to 30 C in many areas on and off through September, which isn't overly common. Generally at this point, we're looking at highs around 15, 16 C."
The heat is not helping, but as cooler temperatures eventually settle in in the coming weeks, the small bit of frost they bring will kill the grass.
"What that does is it then presents a whole bunch of dried fuel on the landscape, which can ignite pretty quickly and spread a wildfire," Derrick Forsythe, a wildfire information officer with Alberta Wildfire, said in an interview Monday.
Western Canada rainfall accumulation for the next seven days/Sept. 23, 2025.
Though the rush of recreational camping dies down around this time of year, there is still a lot of human traffic in forested areas thanks to hunters, he said.
Being mindful of fire restrictions and bans is crucial at this time, Forsythe said, because many fires in the fall start at the intersection of the drying fuel on the ground and human activity — compared to many fires in the summer, which start from lightning.
One of the benefits of fall in Forsythe's eyes is that as temperatures cool, the relative humidity amps up, meaning some moisture stays on the grass — or "fine fuels" — in the morning, which can slow potential starts.
"It helps mitigate the level of fire activity through the day, because it's a shorter window for prime burning," he said.
"So there are some positives to this time of the year, but the risk isn't totally mitigated. You know, nature still will do its thing."
Thumbnail courtesy of Cort Sloan/CBC.
The story was originally written by Emily Rae Pasiuk and published for CBC News.