Where the sky is on fire, where the rain is on the ground

Starting June 11 (local time), rain may fall in Eastern Canada, including southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec, helping to reduce smoke haze caused by fierce wildfires.

Canada wishes for rain

Canadian meteorologist Gerald Cheng predicts rain is also likely to reach further north in Quebec, where the largest fires are burning, but not until June 13, when rainfall will only be around 10-20 mm.

As of June 10, there were 426 fires burning in Canada, 144 of which were in Quebec. Quebec officials said that by June 12, there would be about 1,200 firefighters battling wildfires in the province, which covers an area larger than Germany, Spain and France combined.

Wildfires in Canada are common in the summer, but the scale of the current fire season is unprecedented. Fires on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada have consumed 4.4 million hectares so far, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes while smoke from the fires has made it difficult to breathe from Toronto, Canada to New York, the United States, according to Reuters .

Nơi cháy ngút trời, nơi mưa ngập đất - Ảnh 1.

Wildfire rages in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada Photo: REUTERS

CNN quoted scientists at the Norwegian Institute for Climate and Environmental Research (NILU) as saying that smoke from the Canadian wildfires has crossed Greenland and Iceland and is heading towards Norway and many other European countries. But fortunately, after traveling such a long distance, it has been diluted and is not harmful to health.

Explaining the ongoing disaster, Ms. Katrina Moser, Head of the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University, said that because the snow melts earlier and the vegetation is drier, just one spark - caused by lightning or humans - is enough to ignite a fire very quickly.

According to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, the Abay province in northeastern Kazakhstan is also suffering from forest fires. As of June 10, the most serious forest fire in many years in this Central Asian country has killed 14 people, including 3 forest rangers, and burned about 60,000 hectares of forest.

"This is something scientists have been warning about for years. We have to reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels," Ms. Moser emphasized.

Add to that the human impact on the landscape. Robert Gray, an ecologist in British Columbia, told the Guardian that in recent decades, Canada’s forestry industry has been driven by profit by planting fast-growing species, including the North American whitebark pine.

This pine species is highly flammable, while the native trees of Western Canada, such as mountain ash and fir, are difficult to burn. Furthermore, in western North America alone, nearly 30 million hectares of pine trees have been eaten by mountain pine beetles, creating large patches of “tinderwood” that are easy fuel for fires.

"Dragon boat water" in China

China's weather bureau on June 11 forecast that Hong Kong will see heavy rain and thunderstorms over the next nine days, following a very hot weekend. The low-pressure area over Hainan Island is expected to move eastward, crossing the northern South China Sea on June 12 and 13.

Nơi cháy ngút trời, nơi mưa ngập đất - Ảnh 3.

Rescuers in Beihai City, China, assist people in floods on June 8. Photo: REUTERS

Although the possibility of the low pressure system developing into a typhoon is lower than previously forecast, the low pressure system and its accompanying trough are still expected to bring heavy rain and thunderstorms. The southwest monsoon will also be active in China during the middle and late this week, causing unstable weather on the coast of Guangdong province, while Typhoon Guchol will move in from the sea south of Japan in the next few days, according to the South China Morning Post .

Previously, many areas in southwestern China such as Guangxi and Guangdong provinces experienced extreme early summer rains that locals called "dragon boat water".

Beihai City in Guangxi Province received 614.7 mm of rain in just 24 hours up to 5 a.m. on June 9 (local time), flooding many roads, houses and firefighters had to work hard to rescue people. Ferry services from the city to neighboring Weizhou Island were suspended from June 10 to 12.

Yulin City in nearby Guangxi Province also received 35 hours of continuous rain on June 8 and 9, while many nearby villages and towns were flooded. Rainfall in many areas has set new records and is expected to continue in the coming days, coming on the heels of a severe drought that Guangxi endured in May.

In Ha Nam province, heavy rain also fell in the previous days, destroying many rice-growing areas.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters , the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and coastal areas of western India were put on alert from June 10 due to storm Biparjoy in the Arabian Sea strengthening on June 11.

Authorities have asked fishermen to suspend all activities in the eastern and central Arabian Seas, as well as along the Saurastra and Kutch regions of India for five days from June 11. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has classified Cyclone Biparjoy as “very severe” and is expected to bring heavy rains to parts of Kerala and coastal Karnataka for three days from June 11.

Uruguay has a serious water shortage.

According to Bloomberg , Uruguay is experiencing a record drought that has led to an unprecedented water crisis, affecting half of the country's 3.5 million people. The state-run water company OSE has had to mix brackish water from the Rio de la Plata estuary with dwindling freshwater supplies to avoid water cuts in the capital Montevideo.

Suffering from salty tap water since April, many residents have resorted to spending extra on bottled water or using water from old wells. Health warnings have also been issued for at-risk groups, such as pregnant women, who may be drinking too much salty water.

Despite its crisscrossing rivers and heavy annual rainfall, Uruguay has been experiencing more than three years of drought. Montevideo's main Paso Severino reservoir is currently at just 7% of its 67 million cubic meter capacity.

The country is hoping for rain - more is forecast in the coming months due to El Nino - but the water crisis in the meantime has left President Luis Lacalle Pou's administration under fire for its slow progress on projects to improve water supplies.

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