Canada

I'm up in northern Ontario near Sudbury ... and I've been driving around Timmins and Cochrane for the past few weeks. The forests don't have enough moisture ... we didn't get enough snow last year ... even my friends and relatives up north on James Bay are reporting a lot less water than years before. No one noticed that none of the James Bay communities reported emergency evacuations for anticipated floods this past spring like they normally do. There was about half the amount of snow here than last year.

It all means that the spring run off was a lot less than in previous years ... which means that our forests are already drying out and it isn't even warm or hot yet. As soon as that heat arrives, our forests are going to turn into tinder fire starter. Normally, we should have so much spring run off from our annual supply of snow and ice that it would keep our forests saturated long enough for them survive the summer heat and make it less possible for forest fires. Without that snow, we're doomed up here.

Take in a deep breath of fresh air everyone ... I hate to say it but I'm really worried that the whole north - everything north of North Bay, Sudbury and Thunder Bay - is going to go up in flames this summer. It won't be good for us in the north and it won't spare the south either because it will send clouds of smoke over the entire province.