Saskatchewan is dealing with some more smoke streaming down from the northern wildfires, as Environment Canada has issued an air quality warning for the area. That came through this morning, with smoke expected to last further into the week.
Meteorologist Crawford Luke details the system bringing all of the smoke to us.
"Basically, what's happened is this trough is kind of going through the area. So the winds have kind of switched around to being out of the northwest. What that's doing is basically blowing down all the smoke from fires that are further north or further northwest in northern Saskatchewan, northern Alberta, and even B.C."
As those winds blow all of the smoke into the southeast, Luke says we can expect to feel what more northern areas are feeling shortly.
Right now, for the moment, it seems like the worst air quality is kind of in the Saskatoon area. But again, the winds are coming out of the northwest. So you can imagine later today or tonight, perhaps, if that's where the worst air quality is now, you might find that getting down to Estevan in the future. So that's kind of the concern for today, tomorrow."
The northwest winds are accompanied by a bit of cooler air, as we'll see that begin to drop today and tomorrow. Luke says that means we'll likely face more than one day of smoke for the southeast.
It's looking like through Wednesday, at least. As we move into Thursday, our winds are actually going to switch back to southeasterly direction, it looks like. So hopefully this is going to help blow the smoke kind of back to the northwest, like away from the region. Along with that, hopefully some cleaner air."
As the current air quality is so low, Luke has a few suggestions for anyone who has to deal with the smoke.
"The main things we've been saying is to just really take it easy, especially if you're noticing any symptoms like a scratchy throat or sniffly nose or anything like that. If you're someone who works outside, definitely make sure you're paying extra close attention to just sort of how you're feeling. If people are able to take breaks or spend more time inside in well-ventilated spaces, wearing a mask outside if you have to be outside, that sort of thing."
Environment Canada is also forecasting scattered rain, which is expected to join that smoke over the next couple of days.