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Will the haze stick around for the May long weekend?
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As the region deals with an influx of wildfire smoke, there is some concern that it could put a dent into people's long weekend plans. 

According to Environment Canada, this smoke is coming from the northern Alberta wildfires. 

"A cold front passed through the province [on Monday night] causing the overall flow to instead come from the northwest," said Sarah Hoffman with Environment Canada. "We're seeing some very poor air quality values across Alberta because of the smoke." 

The smoke will not magically disappear in the course of a day either. It's expected to linger about for a few days at least. 

"I would expect the smoke to last at least until Saturday in some capacity," said Hoffman. "The issue with smoke is it's never the same concentration." 

"We are in this flow pattern for the next little while at least until the weekend when another ridge of high pressure builds in over the province." 

This means that any vacationers will most likely have to plan for a smoky start to their holiday. As for Sunday and Monday, the weather isn't looking awful, but it will not help the wildfire situation in the area. 

"We're expecting that heat to build back in for the weekend," said Hoffman. "It will be warmer than usual, the normal for this time of year is a daytime high of 18 C and we are looking at temperatures about 10 C warmer than that." 

"It'll be hot, dry, and potentially hazy, a little bit of lingering smoke for Saturday for sure. Sunday might be a bit better and on Monday we are looking at a well above normal day as well." 

The annual tradition of having the May long weekend experience torrential rainfall doesn't appear to be in the forecast this year. Though the absence of rain over a long weekend is usually a call for celebration, the wildfires are changing that. 

"Maybe this is the first year I am pretty sad there is no rain in the forecast for May long because we really need it," said Hoffman. "We need a few days of lots of rain and cooler temperatures to really get some control over these Alberta wildfires and unfortunately I just don't see that in the forecast." 

Be sure to check our always up-to-date forecast to get all the latest weather updates as the long weekend approaches. 

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