the weekend\u2019s heavy rainfall<\/a> is making its way slowly eastward, and the return flow has brought smoke from wildfires in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba south and west into central Alberta and the foothills.<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re expecting gradual improvement as those low pressure areas drift ever so slowly eastwards,\u201d Proctor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would have had smoke even earlier in the day (Monday), and even on Sunday, but we were raining so hard on Sunday it was washing all that smoke out, so that\u2019s why it almost looked like someone threw a light switch, and the smoke came in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though there are smaller fires scattered throughout Alberta, the most active areas are currently in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, as well as the southern portion of the Northwest Territories.<\/p>\n
Those areas have been \u201cexceptionally dry,\u201d Proctor said, while the southern parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have seen similar precipitation levels to central and southern Alberta.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really the smoke that\u2019s from the fires east of us that\u2019s affecting us now,\u201d he said. \u201cLonger term, I think we\u2019ve got more concerns with what may develop over in British Columbia coming into southern portions of Alberta as we move into July.\u201d<\/p>\n
July is typically one of southern Alberta\u2019s rainiest months, and is predicted to see normal precipitation levels, but higher-than-average temperatures.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the amount of moisture that we\u2019ve got out there, and warmer-than-normal conditions, it\u2019s implying that we should be prepared for a fairly significant severe weather outlook period as we move into the summer,\u201d Proctor said.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s most at risk?<\/p>\n
Those most likely to be impacted by poor air quality \u2014 including seniors, infants and young children, pregnant people, those with an existing illness or chronic health condition, and anyone working outdoors \u2014 are encouraged to avoid strenuous activities outdoors where possible, and seek medical attention if experiencing symptoms.<\/p>\n
Mild symptoms include eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches or a mild cough. More severe but less common symptoms include wheezing, chest pains or severe cough.<\/p>\n
Environment Canada recommends protecting indoor air quality by keeping windows closed and using a high-quality air filter.<\/p>\n
If spending time outdoors is necessary, a respirator mask can help to reduce exposure and associated health risks.<\/p>\n
Catch up with the day\u2019s headlines, curated by our editors and delivered to your email inbox at lunchtime on every business day. Sign up now for the Calgary Herald Noon News Roundup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Calgary area remains under an air quality warning after wildfire smoke rolled in Monday afternoon. According to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7015,51,1113,38759,38760,2393,8820,12649],"class_list":["post-111083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-air-quality","tag-calgary","tag-environment-canada","tag-northern-saskatchewan","tag-precipitation-levels","tag-saskatchewan","tag-southern-alberta","tag-wildfire-smoke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}