The smoke blanketing southern British Columbia from U.S. wildfires is forecast to stick around Friday, but residents will soon be breathing easier.
“Fresher air is on the way,” said Global BC chief meteorologist Mark Madryga.
Southern half of BC in view: Layers of smoke cover the entire region, with thick smoke especially evident in the Interior valleys! pic.twitter.com/zaBCzmwLc7
— Mark Madryga (@MMadryga) September 18, 2020
A new weather system, bringing moist Pacific air and some showers, is forecast to begin overnight and into Saturday morning.
“We’ll get more of a flow off the ocean, from the west, rather than the south — that will clear things up,” said Madryga.
Environment Canada air quality advisories remained in place for the southern two-thirds of the province on Friday morning.
Metro Vancouver also renewed its 10-day-old advisory for the regional district and the Fraser Valley.
The district also projected a clearing in air quality on Saturday and into Sunday.
The province’s Air Quality Health Index — which had rated most regions of southern B.C. at 10+, or “very high risk,” for much of the last week — showed province-wide improvement on Friday.
Good clean air news #BCstorm!
Active weather has improved air quality for parts of south Vancouver Island with improvements coming on Sat for the rest of the South Coast and the BC Interior.For AQHI info: https://t.co/U4EcLKU69c
Smoke = faded teal colour
Lightning = red dots pic.twitter.com/f1LT07ckg7— ECCC Weather British Columbia (@ECCCWeatherBC) September 18, 2020
Read more:
U.S. wildfires help make Vancouver air quality among worst in the world
The index projects air quality in all regions of the province should improve to “moderate” or “low” risk by Saturday.
In the meantime, people with chronic or underlying health conditions, young children and seniors are advised to reduce outdoor physical activity until the air improves.