Canadian Wildfire Smoke Thwarts Level 3 New England Storm Risk
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 15
Canadian Wildfire Smoke Thwarts Level 3 New England Storm Risk
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 15
Summary
Northern Vermont, New Hampshire and western Maine avoided a forecast severe-weather outbreak after thick Canadian wildfire smoke suppressed storm development earlier this week.
Level 3 of 5 risk had been posted by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, which had warned a few rotating supercells could bring large destructive hail, damaging winds and a couple of tornadoes.
The smoke blunted the buildup of storm fuel, cutting off the atmospheric instability needed for those stronger thunderstorms to form.
The episode shows wildfire smoke can reshape weather far from the fires themselves, not just degrade air quality.