With fires up north burning out and skies clearing up from smoke, we may be free of any more smoky days here in the southeast. The smoke was very persistent over the summer, often coming down whenever the weather turned cooler as northern air dragged that smoke southward.
Environment and Climate Change Canada Meteorologist Crawford Luke takes a look at some of the data they gathered on smoke over the summer.
"The most complete data we have would be for Regina. Just because they have a 24-hour-a-day human observer. I know further east, like in Winnipeg, for example, they're having their smokiest year on record. Regina is still in second place; the smokiest year on record for Regina is 2023. But I mean, it's still pretty impressive to be in second place. Impressive in not a good way, I guess you could say."
Luke says most smoke that hit Regina also hit the southeast, making the figure applicable to areas like Estevan as well.
"So far in Regina, there have been 234 hours this year with smoke being observed at some point. That's the second most we've seen in the wildfire season that we have on record, which basically goes back to 1953. I think that's probably fairly representative of just how much smoke we have seen across southeastern Saskatchewan."
Even though fires are smouldering away in the north, Luke still stresses that the skies may not always be clear this fall.
"All that being said, I know we're sort of winding down the summer a little bit, but we still have September and even October to get through. We've seen wildfires kind of persist, and the smoke persists into the fall in years past. So, definitely not out of the woods yet. Hopefully the recent rain is enough to kind of help us get through this hot, dry spell that we're entering into now."
As fires extinguish and clear skies are in the forecast, Luke says they're still keeping a close eye on what weather's to come.
"Especially as you go further north, the most anomalous heat right now is actually in the northern part of the province. So, we'll definitely have to keep an eye throughout this week and next weekend on how the fire situation responds to this hot, dry spell. I guess we'll keep our fingers crossed."
Luke does encourage people to enjoy the warm, clear air this week, as that's in the forecast.