Wildfire smoke blankets Southern Interior

PENTICTON  – As if the Thompson and Okanagan regions didn’t have enough local smoke from nearby wildfires, weather patterns for the past two days have introduced smoke into the region from other, far away places.

Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist says satellite imagery suggests the increased smoke we’ve been seeing in the Okanagan is coming from multiple locations, and possibly even from Ontario.

"We see smoke coming from the Yukon, Northern B.C., even Alaska, so there’s a lot of different places where smoke could be coming from,” Lundquist says, adding Environment Canada is performing a “trajectory" to find out where the air came from and backtrack to where it originated.

“We don’t have a completely clear answer yet, but there are many sources in Western Canada and perhaps even Ontario or Siberia, where smoke is coming around the ridge,” he says.

Lundquist says it's not unusual to see smoke coming from such far off locations. He says the pattern began late Tuesday as smoke became visible at high altitudes.

The smoke has a tendency to cool the air by filtering the sun, Lundquist says.

“It does two things, it makes our atmosphere more stable, cooler because there isn’t as much sun hitting the ground, and at the same time it prevents more thunderstorms and cloud. It does have an effect on our weather, including being self-perpetuating because it traps the smoke and attempts to create an inversion,” he says.

The smoky skies are expected to lessen as a ridge builds with the approach of the weekend. An air quality advisory was issued yesterday by Environment Canada for the region.

Lundquist says the different sources of smoke will result in highly variable conditions throughout the Thompson and Okanagan as long as the current weather pattern continues.

Check out the  BlueSky Daily smoke forecast website for smoke predictions across North America for the next two days.The forecasts operate out of the University of British Columbia and are produced duing the Canadian fire season from April to September.

Currently, Kamloops is at a moderate health risk for air quality, while the Okanagan's risk is still considered low.

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