“Wildfire” by Photographer David Ellingsen

September 2020 was the hottest September in the 141-year record, breaking the record set in 2019. The last seven years have seen the seven hottest months of September in recorded history. This comes at the end of nine months of wildfires around the globe. Late June’s record temperatures also helped drive September to see Arctic sea ice at its second lowest extent on record. Seen here beginning noticeably on the 12th day of the month, smoke from the wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington reached us here in Victoria, Canada resulting in some of the worst air quality on the planet.