Sask. wildfire smoke triggers air quality warning for Saskatoon

A plume of wildfire smoke has settled over Saskatoon, causing Environment Canada to issue an air quality warning for it as well as most parts of northern and central Saskatchewan.

“We were watching the plume of smoke come down from the north last night and as it came down, there are air sensors that were picking up on the smoke and a lot of the models were indicating that it would hit somewhere in around the Saskatoon area. We weren’t exactly sure if it would make a direct hit. Turns out it did,” said Eric Dykes, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

According to Dykes, the thick smoke isn’t expected to leave us anytime soon.

“It’s probably going to stick around for most of the day unfortunately. There might be some periodic slight improvement is the best way I can put it for Monday. It’s going to be pretty bad this morning though,” Dykes said. “I think the worst of it will continue through the morning hours. By the afternoon we might see a little bit improvement, but not a whole lot.”

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Dykes mentioned what has brought all the wildfire smoke towards Saskatoon was a shift in the winds over the last 24 hours.

“We’re kind of stuck in a bit of a northerly flow for the next day or two. The smoke will definitely hang around today, may hang around into tomorrow as well, but it’s on Wednesday where we start to see the winds switch around,” Dykes said.

With the smoke settling over parts of northern and central Saskatchewan this morning, Dykes added some of it will trickle down south.

“It’s going to spread down a little bit. The closer you are to the source of the fires, the worse it will be. The smoke itself will continue to move in a southerly direction over the next day or so. It’s kind of an evolving thing – each of the model runs that are coming out are kind of giving us a bit a little bit of a different answer and the most recent one that I’m looking at is indicating that the major plume of smoke that’s over Saskatoon this morning will continue to move toward down towards the south,” Dykes explained.

Wildfire smoke lingers over streets in Saskatoon.

Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert are all expected to reach a 9 or higher on the air quality index on Friday. (Taylor MacPherson/650 CKOM)

“The worst will move down towards the southwest, so areas such as Kindersley and areas west of Outlook, Swift Current, Leader – they look to be getting into the smoke if not later today, then into Monday night and into Tuesday,” Dykes added. “Regina looks to get into the smoke somewhat, but not until I would say later on tonight.”

With the air quality in parts of Saskatchewan so bad, Dykes is reminding everyone to take the proper precautions outside if you need to.

“You know your body the best, so if you can’t handle the smoke because you have health issues or just don’t want to be on the smoke please don’t,” he said. “If you have to be out there, try to take breaks – go inside – seek medical attention if you’re feeling very ill, check on elderly folks, family members and so forth. Make sure they’re okay, as well as your pets too because they have adverse reactions to smoke, just like humans do as well.”