2023 Canada Wildfires

About

The 2023 Canada Wildfires, also known as the Quebec Wildfires or Canada Fire Smoke, began in mid-May 2023 and continued into June. While wildfires are an expected occurrence in Canada around early May, the 2023 Canadian fires were unprecedented in terms of number and intensity. In early June 2023, smoke clouds from the record-setting fires in Western Canada began to drift into the East Coast of the U.S., setting off air quality red alerts and leading New York City to top a list of the most polluted major cities in the world. Memes about the event revolved around comparing smokey scenes in New York to Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner: 2049 and the Mexican Filter, among many other jokes such as South Park's "Blame Canada" song.

Background

On May 11th, 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States published an article detailing the wildfires raging across Western Canada. The article notes that by May 11th, over "100 wildland fires have already begun raging across western Canada this month," "a million acres have burned, and more than 29,000 people in Alberta and British Columbia were forced to evacuate their homes."^[1]

On May 29th, 2023, CNN's official Twitter^[2] posted a dashcam video of someone trying to drive through an area affected by the wildfire, gathering over 40,000 views and 75 likes in a week (seen below).

Dashcam video shows a family driving through fiery plumes of smoke as a wildfire rages in Canada pic.twitter.com/LN1gpXLDP3

— CNN International (@cnni) May 29, 2023

On June 6th, 2023, Reutur's official Twitter^[3] posted a video captioned, "Canada is on track to face its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction. Blazes are burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories, and federal government officials said their modeling shows increased wildfire risk in most of Canada through August." The post gathered over 1,400 likes in a day (seen below).

Canada is on track to face its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction. Blazes are burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories, and federal government officials said their modeling shows increased wildfire risk in most of Canada through August https://t.co/QU7KK6eXkm pic.twitter.com/QF5AAOCb3H

— Reuters (@Reuters) June 6, 2023

Developments

New York Air Quality Index Red Alert

On June 7th, 2023, New York received the worst World AQI ranking of over 300, 200 points above New Delhi, which stood at 168.^[4] A timelapse of the wildfire smoke settling into the city was posted by the National Weather Service's Twitter^[5] account on June 7th, gathering over 3,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Check out this almost unbelievable time-lapse of wildfire smoke consuming the World Trade Center and the New York City skyline.Those vulnerable to poor air quality, including seniors and young children, should limit time outdoors if possible.More: https://t.co/ChRuWv7X6E pic.twitter.com/mtKtLun8lN

— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) June 7, 2023

On June 6th, 2023, Twitter^[6] user @jeremysmiles posted a joke about the smog in New York, making a reference to Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and gathering over 60,000 likes in a day (seen below, left). Also on June 6th, Twitter^[7] user @US_Stormwatch posted about the air quality in the city, noting that spending 24 hours outside in the city at the time was supposedly "equivalent to smoking about six cigarettes" (seen below, right).

Online Reactions

Throughout early June 2023 as the wildfires continued to burn and smoke was dispersed across the East Coast of the U.S., discourse and memes on social media appeared en masse with many making jokes about Blade Runner: 2049 and the Mexican Filter due to the smog in places like NYC.

For example, on June 7th, 2023, Flork of Cows tweeted^[12] a meme referencing the Mexico Filter being deployed by Canada, receiving over 48,900 likes and 7,100 retweets in roughly 20 hours (seen below, left). That same day, Twitter^[13] user @kenklippenstein tweeted a Bladerunner image calling it a "beautiful day here in nyc today," receiving nearly 4,000 likes and 210 retweets in 24 hours (seen below, right).

Related Memes

Blame Canada

Search interest for a song titled Blame Canada from the 1999 South Park movie spiked on June 7th, 2023.^[8] The song was referenced in various Reddit posts in early June as well.^[9][10]

On June 7th, Redditor Devin_Computer posted a meme example referencing the "Blame Canada" song to the /r/memes^[11] subreddit, receiving over 2,800 upvotes and 90 likes in 21 hours (seen below).

Mexican Filter

Mexican Filter or Mexico Filter refers to parodies of a trope in American film and television in which scenes taking place in Mexico are often shown through a sepia or yellow-colored filter. The cliche began garnering attention in the early 2000s, increasing over the following years through associations with prominent TV shows like Breaking Bad, among others.

Search Interest

External References