Hazy days may be ahead: Smoke wafting into Okanagan, Kamloops

KELOWNA – Notice any smoke haze?

Air quality around the Okanagan has inched down, according to the Environment Canada monitoring site that ranks the breathable space around us on a scale of one to 10 — one being nearly perfect and 10 being toxic.

Yesterday, Aug. 1, every Okanagan city, as well as Kamloops, ranked as a one on the Air Quality Health Index site, which is as good as it gets. As of 10 a.m., it was ranked two and the forecast was for it to reach three by the end of the day.

While it’s on the decline, it’s still considered a low risk to people with respiratory issues and of no risk to those without.

It's also nowhere near where it was this time two years ago when the haze was so thick it was worse than both Beijing and New Dehli in terms of dirtiness — both are cities that continually have near toxic air quality.

Last year had its own share of smokey sky issues as well.

Although there are small fires in Chase and near Osoyoos, Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist speculated that there would be a haze in the days ahead due to fires in Alaska and Siberia.

Otherwise, he said “abnormally normal” temperatures have made a big impact on wildfire behaviour and, in turn, smoke. The lack of scorching heat and wetter weather experienced this year over the previous two Julys resulted in much better air quality and far fewer fire issues.

The AQHI is an initiative of Environment Canada, Health Canada, the B.C. Ministry of Environment, the B.C. Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, the B.C. Ministry of Health Services, the B.C. Lung Association, the Interior Health Authority, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the City of Kelowna.

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