We have similar worries here in northern Ontario. The forests here basically lie in or are surrounded by wet swamps. But all that water is dependent on what happens in the winter and the snow. If we don’t get enough snow during the winter, there won’t be enough run off all spring and into the summer to keep the swamps wet … if the swamps aren’t wet enough, it dries out the forest … dry forest equals forest fires.

The same thing happens with the type of winter … we could have lots of snow but warm periods in the winter time that melts things and keeps the snow pack down … or spring arrives too early and too hot, melts everything too fast and leaves the forests dry by summer time.

We always have water up here but it only takes a small dip in snow accumulation and spring run off to dry out the forest sufficiently and create the conditions for forest fires. We approached those levels for the past few summers and squeezed by without major fires but every year that tipping point gets closer and closer.

Short answer is … as global warming keeps changing weather patterns … even though we still get freezing cold winters up here … every year, we’re in high danger of massive forest fires that will probably happen here in the coming decades. Once our forests dry out, we’re going to produce some of worst smoke events similar to what happened in 2023 and probably worse.

Take a nice deep breathe of fresh country air … and do it as often as you can … we might not have that luxury in the coming decades. :(