Kim MacDonald 🌻

If scrolling has your blood pressure up, here’s Barry in his new blue coat.

Canada is on fire. Europe is on fire. The Amazon is on fire. Cities are breaking heat records. Rivers are drying up. Other countries are drowning in floods. Storms are getting stronger. Seasons don’t feel like seasons anymore. And somehow… climate change is still a debate.

Canada’s boreal forest — the source of much of the wildfire smoke drifting into the U.S. — isn’t like our managed forests in the lower 48. It’s the largest intact forest ecosystem on Earth: roughly 1.3 billion acres (about 78 times larger than Alaska’s Tongass, our biggest national forest, and 7 times larger than all 154 U.S. National Forests combined). It stretches in an almost continuous belt from the Yukon to Newfoundland. Why can’t they just do controlled burns like we do here? Because most of it is remote, roadless wilderness. • Less than 9% of Canada’s population lives in the boreal region. • Less than 1% of the forest itself is developed. • Vast areas have no roads and are only accessible by aircraft or winter roads. You can’t send crews in to do prescribed burns across a billion+ acres of inaccessible terrain the way we can in populated areas near roads and communities in the U.S. Wildfire has been nature’s primary management tool in these ecosystems for thousands of years. Smoke reaching the Northeast isn’t new either. It happened in 1950, 1988, 1995, 2002, 2017, 2021, 2023, 2025, and now 2026. Weather (especially upper-level wind patterns) determines where the smoke goes, not just where the fires are burning. Blaming Canada’s government for “not controlling” these fires is political theater. The scale and inaccessibility make large-scale suppression or prevention across that wilderness fundamentally different — and in many places, practically impossible — from managing forests near U.S. population centers. Nature runs that forest. Politicians don’t. Let’s stop pretending otherwise.

@_CoreyRobertson @WxMelinda21 @MurphTWN @NicoleKarkic @nadinehp4 @RhythmTheMet @RachelSchoutsen @JordyCaprice @laurapowerwx @StormhunterTWN @LFB10 Well done, Corey!

TORNADO ON THE GROUND in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta🌪️ @WxMelinda21 @KMacTWN @MurphTWN @NicoleKarkic @nadinehp4 @RhythmTheMet @RachelSchoutsen @JordyCaprice @laurapowerwx @StormhunterTWN @LFB10 #ShareYourWeather #abstorm July 18, 2026. 6:20pm mdt

Holy storm!!!⛈️ 2-3 pm and still not over!! @weathernetwork @MurphTWN @StormsOnErie @KMacTWN @StormhunterTWN @RachelSchoutsen @martaczur @RhythmTheMet @JordyCaprice @NicoleKarkic @StormsOnErie @WxMelinda21 #ShareYourWeather

A TORNADO WARNING has been issued in southern Ontario evening for Mississauga - Brampton Halton Hills - Milton Burlington - Oakville If you are in these areas and see the storm approaching, take shelter immediately. #ONstorm #ONwx

Be right back, guys, just going out to rake the forest

@4shelleyj Oh my! Those lungs are taking a beating.

@KMacTWN My son was at a Home Depot in Waterloo Wednesday. The sky was orange. The smoke was thick and three guys were standing beside a pickup truck smoking. They said to my son man. The smoke is really thick isn’t it? He just laughed and laughed.

It’s weird to be surrounded by this hazy wildfire smoke and walk by a dude smoking.

How Does Wildfire Smoke Affect Birds? birdsandblooms.com/birding/birdin…

Evacuation Order for Mooseland Road Wildfire for civic address 4315 Mooseland Road down to Highway 7 #Halifax @weathernetwork

For those wondering why it's so hard to control remote wildfires in Canada, here are two maps which might help illustrate the problem. Let's call them: A) Where the people are; and B) Where the trees are.

Intensifying NW of Claraseholm. #abstorm

A golden evening on Long Beach in Bonavista.

@LittleBeachLady @weathernetwork @MurphTWN @KMacTWN @RachelSchoutsen @ThatMetGirl @RhythmTheMet @JordyCaprice @martaczur @NicoleKarkic @WxMelinda21 @StormhunterTWN @LakeErieNorth @StormsOnErie All the way down here: stay safe, it seems apocalyptic

Spotted a great horned owl in Amherstview tonight! @AnthonyFarnell @Ross_Hull @StormhunterTWN @StormHour @KMacTWN @MurphTWN

"Just put the fires out!" Ever seen a boreal wildfire? I have. I used to fight them. When fire behaviour becomes extreme, you're not getting close to them. The radiant heat from a crown fire is face-melting from hundreds of metres away. All attempts at direct attack will fail, because dropping water on it becomes akin to trying to spit on a campfire...it evaporates before it even hits the flames. Additionally, reduced visibility, high winds, and turbulence makes aerial attack hazardous. As a wildland firefighter, I've been extracted off of wildfires twice as our fires blew up, both times having our gear burned over. We returned to find firehoses and metal melted into the ash. I've seen fireballs launched hundreds of feet high, and fires intense enough to produce lightning, influencing the weather around them. I've seen wildfires grow to the size of a major city in a short period of time. So no, we can't just put the fire out. Not being able to stop such a natural process is a truly humbling feeling.

A little bit of pink hue blending with the smoke this morning sunrise over Lake Ontario here in #HamOnt #ShareYourWeather @weathernetwork #Ontwx @MurphTWN @JordyCaprice @KMacTWN

@GrayMarker99 Now on my bucket list. ❤️

@KMacTWN Yes! The Blueberry Cottage in Trinity, NL is a highly rated home with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Beautiful view of the ocean.

The Blueberry 🫐 Cottage. Trinity, NL July 14/26

Tracked a few cells out to Mayerthorpe tonight. The storm had potential for a Tornado however it powered out #yeg #abstorm #shareyourweather #stormhour #yegwx