It's back: Smoke from Canada wildfires drifts across the border

It's becoming an annual experience for Americans as smoke from Canadian wildfires is again making its way into the United States.

With over 100 active wildfires burning in Canada, smoke has drifted across the border, prompting Minnesota officials over the weekend to issue the state's first air quality alert of 2024.

At least 37 of the 141 active fires burning in Canada have been labeled "out of control," including one that started on Friday in British Columbia and has since spread to 4,200 acres, forcing the evacuation of the small town of Fort Nelson, and the Fort Nelson Indian Reserve.

Most of the active wildfires are in British Columbia and Alberta provinces. In northern Alberta around 70,000 people in the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray are on evacuation alert.

Smoke reached states from Montana to Wisconsin. In Minnesota, the Air Quality Index for Bemidji recorded a 212 AQI on Sunday, where residents could smell the smoke in the air at these levels and placed the town among the worst air quality locations in the world.

An AQI between 150 and 200 is "unhealthy" and above the 200 AQI mark goes into a "very unhealthy" zone.

Year-to-date, there have been more than 950 wildfires in Canada -- nearly triple the number from three weeks ago, officials said.

2023 was Canada's worst ever wildfire season when nearly 46 million acres burned and blazes raged simultaneously in the east and west of the country.

The effects of wildfire smoke are an increasing worry across the United States that is only expected to worsen, according to a study released in February.