Smoke from a Distant Fire

This was the scene in Edmonton back on May 30th.  In the afternoon a pall of smoke rolled into town and choked out the sun.  It was very orange in the afternoon and had sort of a post apocalyptic feel to it.  This was all from forest fires burning up in northern Alberta.  The biggest one was the Chuckegg Creek fire burning up near the town of High Level.   The 5000 residents in the area were evacuated at one point, but have since been allowed back home.  The fire is not under control yet, but has now burned away from the town.  I'm not sure what the size of the burned area is, but at one point it was something like 23,000 square kilometers.  It is extremely dry up in northern Alberta and despite the fact that southern parts of the province have seen some rain, the north has not.  This is just the largest of several fires burning and there are around 8 to 10 more that are considered out of control, plus a number of other small ones.  I took two of these snapshots behind my shop in the afternoon, when the sky was extremely orange.  Normally the skyline of the city would be available in the distance but on this day the visibility was less than a quarter mile.  Later in the evening, the orange cast disappeared and it just turned grey and became very acidic.  The parking lot shot was taking in the evening at Southgate Mall.  There are some highrise apartments just beyond the parking lot that are virtually invisible due to the smoke.  The smoke lingered for a few days and then with shifting winds it ended up clearing in the city.