(Bloomberg) --

Canada’s forests are continuing to burn in what has been a record year for wildfires in the country.

There are still 330 wildfires burning across Canada, with 85 of them raging out of control, according to the Canadian Forest Fire Centre. So far in 2023, 6,647 fires have burned 18.5 million hectares — which is roughly the size of North Dakota. Canada’s year of fires was blamed on a lack of snow and drought across large parts of the country last winter, and there is a growing chance that situation will repeat itself this year, said Paul Pastelok, a long-range forecaster at AccuWeather Inc.As winter 2023-24 unfolds, large parts of central and eastern Canada could find themselves in the second year of a snow drought. This could affect weather across the continent, by keeping things mild, but it will also have a long-range effect on drought.Through the end of October, large parts of southern Canada were still in drought, with the hardest hit areas in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, according to the Canadian Drought Monitor.Record fires raged for months across Canada and the smoke even choked the skies in New York and other large US cities in June and through the summer.

In other weather news:

US: There is an elevated risk of fire weather along the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. There are a could red flag warnings up in counties on either side of the border as strong, dry winds batter the area through Tuesday. There is also an enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms across Louisiana and Mississippi on Monday, with a wider area – including Houston and New Orleans that face a slight to marginal risk. Severe thunderstorms can bring damaging straight-line winds, hail and tornadoes.India: Heavy rainfall fell across Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The heavy rains will keep coming this week across southeastern parts of India.

Russia: About 44,000 Russians remain without power after wind storms in Siberia, according to Deputy Energy Minister Evgeny Grabchak.