August 2025 Discussion-OBS - cooler than normal first week but a big comeback to warmer than normal for the last 2-3 weeks

[Dark Star]

6 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Yes. I only remember talking about wildfire smoke one time in my life before the last couple of years, and that was summer 2002 with the fires in Quebec. 

Admittingly, I don't remember as a kid, growing up in the 60's, then all they way up to a few years ago.  Maybe I didn't notice?

[Sundog]

31 minutes ago, Dark Star said:

Admittingly, I don't remember as a kid, growing up in the 60's, then all they way up to a few years ago.  Maybe I didn't notice?

I don't think you didn't notice, I don't think it was happening. 

[bluewave]

1 hour ago, Sundog said:

Yes. I only remember talking about wildfire smoke one time in my life before the last couple of years, and that was summer 2002 with the fires in Quebec. 

Yeah, we would get smaller Canadian wildfires back in those days. We even had smoke in the late 80s from wildfires in the Appalachians.

But the Canadian wildfires have been at record levels since 2023. June 6-8, 2023 was a first for our area having such thick smoke. A recent study found that the smoke dropped our temperatures by 5°F.

https://www.rmets.org/metmatters/worst-air-quality-world-wildfire-smog-smothers-new-york

The Wednesday morning air quality was bad. The day began in the “red” with AQIs in the 151-200 range. An AQI in that range has only occurred a handful of times in the last few decades in the city. Still, New Yorkers tried to continue with their daily routine activities. By late Wednesday morning, the grey blob as seen from the ABI visible band on GOES satellite, showed the highest concentration of smoke flowing across Lake Ontario, Upstate New York and into the City region. Shortly after, the skies went dark over the city by 2pm, and air quality continued to worsen through the evening.

The AQI was above 480 on Wednesday evening in NYC, technically off the chart. NYC’s air quality was quickly compared to large cities in India and China known for their chronic pollution. At that point, New York City had the worst air quality in the world. The pollution was bad enough to cancel outdoor after-school activities for the 1.1 million students in the largest public school system in the country, and prompt a shift to remote learning for the following days.

https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asl.1306?af=R#:~:text=During the fire season of,(NYC) and its surroundings.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02214-3

 

[jm1220]

4 hours ago, psv88 said:

I don’t remember wild fire smoke being this much of an issue when I was a kid. Maybe once or twice, but it’s an annual occurrence now. Is it happening more?

Others would know a lot more than me but the last few years have set records in Canada for wildfires. Probably a combination of higher temps, less rain and less snow in the winter. 

[lee59]

2 minutes ago, jm1220 said:

Others would know a lot more than me but the last few years have set records in Canada for wildfires. Probably a combination of higher temps, less rain and less snow in the winter. 

The weather may cause the fires to be more severe by having more dry conditions that adds fuel to the fire. Except for lightning, the fires are set by people or things like power lines. The vast majority of the fires would probably never exist if it wasn't for human intervention of some kind.

[lee59]

59 degrees last night, first 50s here since June 16th

[IrishRob17]

1 hour ago, bluewave said:

Yeah, we would get smaller Canadian wildfires back in those days. We even had smoke in the late 80s from wildfires in the Appalachians.

We sure did and the media was all over it. Low of 54, currently 75. 

[nycwinter]

now that we hit august you can see the light at the end of the tunnel it wont be long now when you can wear your hoodie on a everyday basis..