People on the prairies will have to put up with a little smoke for the next day or so.(paNOW Staff/ Ronald Quaroni)

By Ronald Quaroni

Smokey Haze

Sunny day hampered by smoke

May 29, 2019 | 10:00 AM

With a projected high of 29 C and sunny skies, it’s almost perfect weather Wednesday, but for the tinge of smoke in the air. The culprit is forest fires in northern Alberta.

“The satellite shows the smoke from those drifting down over a good chunk of Saskatchewan and all the way into Southern Manitoba,” said Dan Fulton, meteorologist with Environment Canada. “In the Prince Albert area, we’ll see smoke today and a good chunk of tomorrow.”

Fulton explained as the day wears on the smoke will be more prevalent.

“There’s quite a bit in the atmosphere above you. Not much is at the surface yet. As it warms up, you’ll get some mixing and you’ll be able to smell it,” Fulton said.

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He told paNOW an expected cold front Thursday afternoon should begin to clear the smoke out and push some cleaner air into the area.

Fulton said the good news is the fires are quite far away, so the concentration of particulates isn’t exceptionally high. He added people with respiratory issues should still take precautions not to be too over exposed.

When asked if we are in for another bad year of wildfire smoke, Fulton said it would depend heavily on wildfires across Western Canada.

“Weather-wise, it’s been a pretty bad start, given that we’re having hot, dry conditions in the west and that pretty much is a typical setup to get fires burning in B.C and Alberta,” Fulton explained.

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Ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni