The southeast is getting hit with another batch of smoke today as Environment and Climate Change Canada has sent out a special air quality warning about the smoke coming down from the wildfires up north.
Meteorologist Crawford Luke talks about the statement and what's driving the smoke into our area.
"Basically we had this cold front go through last night. Behind that cold front, there's all this smoke coming down from all these wildfires up North. We have a North wind for much of the day today in the forecast. So it's basically just blowing all that smoke from the North down into the Southeast corner of the province."
There's more than just a day's worth of smoke, as Luke says it'll stretch into the start of the weekend
"It might be kind of touch and go for today, tomorrow, especially we get into some rain tonight and Friday, that might help clear some of the smoke out at least temporarily. But then after that rain kind of moves through, it looks like Friday night, Saturday morning, we're into the smoke once again. But then hopefully as we move into Saturday afternoon and into Sunday, the smoke will start to clear because we're going to shift into a bit more of a westerly wind."
"Right now the wind's coming from the North. So it's kind of coming from where the wildfires are and that's why we're seeing all the smoke blowing South. When we switch to a West wind, we don't have fires really going on to the West. So hopefully it'll bring in a cleaner air mass and make for better breathing conditions this weekend."
Cold fronts have previously blown smoke into the southeast earlier this week, as we've seen rollercoaster temperatures over the past few days.
Unlike the more manageable smoke at the start of the week, Luke is predicting that the upcoming conditions will be more severe.
"Just looking at some of the observations right now, I'd say it looks pretty bad. I don't remember off the top of my head how bad it got at the start of this week. I think it might've been worse in Manitoba. But it's looking pretty bad for some of these areas, like around Weyburn right now. So I feel like it's going to be in Estevan pretty soon. It's looking pretty bad."
Luke says we may also see the smoke return again at the beginning of next week, as cooler temperatures will come by on Monday and Tuesday, once again blowing smoke into the southeast.
Environment Canada recommends people stay indoors when possible while the smoke is in the air and to make sure that the vulnerable, such as children and the elderly, are taken care of.