Canadian wildfire smoke reaches Malta

The UK Met Office has confirmed that satellite images from Malta have captured smoke from bushfires in Canada.

The fires ravaged vast tracts of wilderness in western Canada, with smoke travelling more than 7,500 kilometres to reach Malta.

The UK Met Office recently took satellite images of the smoke over Malta, and “the clearest sight of the smoke appeared yesterday (Monday),” the Met Office said.

The popular Maltese Islands Weather Facebook page, which first brought the smoke to public attention, said on Tuesday that the smoke was being carried from Canada by “several storm systems moving across the Atlantic, through northern Europe and finally into the Mediterranean.”

The page says the presence of smoke “reminds us that everything that happens anywhere in the world, no matter how isolated, ultimately affects each and every one of us.”

The smoke was also spotted in the UK and Norway after it was blown across the Atlantic Ocean on the jet stream – fast-moving air currents in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Thousands of residents who were forced to evacuate Jasper, a tourist town in western Canada that was partially destroyed by a massive wildfire, were able to return home on Friday, authorities said.

Three weeks ago, more than 25,000 residents and tourists were forced to flee the area as the fire grew more intense and outstripped firefighters’ ability to put it out.

The fire, caused by lightning strikes in the dry region, destroyed more than 350 of the 1,100 buildings in the town of about 5,000 residents.

As of Thursday evening, the fire was estimated at 54 square kilometers, making it the largest fire this century in Jasper National Park, which attracts about 2.5 million visitors each year.

Authorities warned that the fires could continue for months, burning through a region known as one of Canada’s natural treasures for its scenic mountains, lakes, waterfalls and glaciers.

Returning home was difficult for some residents, who arrived to find their towns scarred and unrecognizable.

Satellite images show smoke continuing to move across the Mediterranean, covering the west coast of France and the Balearic Islands. Photo: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3B satellite imagery

“When you come into town and see the remnants of the fire and everything around you, it’s just an overwhelming emotion,” Clara Adriano, whose storefront was destroyed, told CBC News.

There are 104 fires burning in Alberta.

Western Canada has been hit hard by wildfires this summer.

Scientists say recurring heat waves and droughts, likely linked to global climate change, are considered a key factor.

Almost exactly one year after the fire Similar to hell It swept across western Canada, forcing continued evacuations in British Columbia.