In mid-May 1780, the skies over New England, New York, northern New Jersey, and eastern Canada appeared yellow in color and the sun red.   On the morning of 19 May 1780, the skies began to darken as if night was coming on.  By noon people had to light candles to see what they were doing.  One witness recorded that “the fowls went to their roosts, the cocks crew and the whip-poor-wills sung their usual serenade” at mid-day.  Then, after a few hours, the darkness began to recede as quickly as it had arrived, but it lasted long enough to compound night’s natural darkness.  Scholars now believe that this “Dark Day” resulted from wildfires in Ontario, Canada.[1]  Westerly winds drove the smoke from enormous fires eastward over the northern Colonies. 

            This story will seem excessively familiar in Summer 2023.[2]  Big wildfires spring from the combination of fuel (dry vegetation), ignition (commonly lightning strikes and human error), and “red flag” conditions (high temperature, low humidity, and wind).  All of those came together across Canada in Spring 2023.  The Canadian fires now burning are much greater in scope than those of 1780.  They are much bigger than the now-forgotten fires of 1989, which burned 18 million acres.  They have burned 25 million acres so far.  It’s still early in the fire season, so the final total is sure to be even more staggering. 

One factor may be the simultaneity of the Canadian fires.  With normally sequential fires, crews can work to contain a fire before moving on to another new blaze.  Simultaneous fires over-stretch limited resources (i.e. mostly young men in big boots with Stihls).  Really remote locations may compound the difficulties.[3] 

            Reasonably and persuasively, however, experts chiefly attribute these wildfires-run-wild to climate change.  A warming planet dries out the vegetation (fuel), triggers more lightning storms (ignition), and destabilizes the pattern of winds (“red-flag” conditions). 

            Climate-change skeptics could point out that the United States has not suffered a comparable disaster.  According to the National Interagency Fire Center, just under 750,000 acres have burned so far in 2023.  In comparison, the 2014-2023 average for fires as of July 10, is almost 2.6 million acres.  In 2022, a skosh over 4.8 million acres had burned by 10 July.[4] This slow start to the season has allowed 1,800 U.S. firefighters to be sent to Canada.  Furthermore, as is the case in Canada, Mediterranean wildfires are common, rather than something new.  Finally, you don’t need to have climate change to have big wildfires. 

As was the case with the Lisbon earthquake of 1755,[5] many people saw the hand of God in New England’s “Dark Day,” fearing that it heralded the “Day of Judgement.”[6]  Also as with the Lisbon earthquake, others thought not.  They sought some rationally comprehensible explanation in the powerful functioning of the Natural world.  These skeptics didn’t yet have such an explanation.  They just thought it the most likely place to look.  They were proved right. 

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[1] See: The New England Dark Day, May 19, 1780 – New England Historical Society 

[2] Nadja Popovich, “What Is Fueling Canada’s Epic Wildfire Season,” NYT, 19 July 2023. 

[3] It’s a seven hour drive from Calgary to the Peace River area, about half way up the province. 

[4] See: 2023 wildfire season in US off to the quietest start in at least a decade | Watch (msn.com) 

[5] See: 1755 Lisbon earthquake – Wikipedia 

[6] KJV, Matthew, 24, 29-31.  “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”