While wildfires continue to burn across northern Saskatchewan, the southeast may escape the worst of what could float towards us this weekend. Last weekend, an air quality warning from Environment Canada stalled weekend activities for southeast communities.
Now we're in for another blast of smoke as Environment and Climate Change Canada Meteorologist Danielle Desjardins says we'll see some cold weather sweep in.
"We're not expecting the smoke to be too bad today and for a little bit of tomorrow. But with those northwesterly winds kicking in with the cold front, that's going to bring down some smoke from central Saskatchewan and even a little bit of Alberta. So we are expecting, you know, the air quality to be up and down again this weekend. So keep an eye on the latest forecast, and we will be issuing air quality advisories or warnings depending on just how bad that smoke gets."
That's being joined by some rainfall on Saturday, which may also be joined by another system on Sunday.
Despite the rain also reaching up north, Desjardins says it's unlikely to have a big enough impact to get rid of the smoke.
"We are hoping for precipitation over the wildfire areas, and it does look like they will get some rain this weekend. It depends on which fire we're talking about, but it does look like some substantial precipitation, more than we've seen in recent weeks. So that will definitely help with the wildfire situation."
But of course, I'm not entirely sure, the rest of the wildfire guys would know better if that's just enough to extinguish the fires. So I would expect there to still be smoke in the air, even with this precipitation coming."
Desjardins reiterates that people should keep an eye on the forecast over the weekend, and to stay inside if possible should an air quality warning be issued.