Smoke from U.S. wildfires could make its way back to Kamloops, Okanagan this week

There’s a possibility of smoke returning to Kamloops and the Okanagan later this week.

Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist says this week’s weather pattern that is bringing a second summer to Kamloops and the Okanagan has the potential to bring some smoke back into the region later this week.

“It’s more of a coastal event. First of all, there’s not a lot of smoke being produced in Washington, it’s mostly in Oregon and California, so it’s coming from further away,” Lundquist says.

So far this week the smoke has been edging up the coast.

“It’s already nearly October, and under this ridge of high pressure this time of year the flow tends to be north, so we’re protected a bit from that southerly flow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if later in the work week or on the weekend we see some smoke aloft or maybe drawn down into the valley bottoms before a change in flow on Sunday,” he says.

Lundquist says between Thursday and Saturday there may be a day or two where smoke is present, but it won’t be anywhere near as prevalent as last time.

“We might get into the range for poor air quality one day, but it will mostly be low to moderate,” he says.

The high pressure ridge over southern B.C. is very strong, bringing some higher than normal temperatures to the area this week. Merritt set a new record of 28.2 Celsius yesterday, beating the old record of 27.8 set in 1973, with records dating back to 1918.

More records could fall in the coming days with highs of 26 C expected in Kamloops and Penticton today and tomorrow.

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