Wildfire smoke in Saskatoon beats 70-year record

Saskatoon is having one of its worst years on record for wildfire smoke.

The city has been spending more hours with smoke in 2023 than any year since 1953. This year, Environment and Climate Change Canada said Saskatoon has surpassed 180 smoke hours.

“We define a smoke hour as an hour when the visibility is reduced to 9.7 kilometres or less in smoke,” explained Terri Lang, an Environment Canada meteorologist.

On Tuesday, Saskatoon reached an air quality health index above 10. Lang noted that any index level above seven can be dangerous to even the healthiest of individuals.

Saskatoon saw a change of wind direction Tuesday mixed with some rain, which helped clear some of the smoke from the atmosphere. But, Lang warned, the cleaner air isn’t expected to last until the end of the day Thursday.

“We do have northwesterly winds kicking in again (Wednesday), so we may see some more smoke starting to move back in,” said Lang.

“I don’t know if the air quality is going to get as bad as we saw (Tuesday), but just be prepared to see smoke again.”

Those wind gusts are expected to reach 80 to 90 kilometres per hour, and could bring smoke into the area very quickly.

Lang explained that the smoke is coming mainly from fires burning in the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta and British Columbia.

According to Lang, the volume of smoke in Saskatoon and the rest of the province depends entirely on the severity of the surrounding wildfires, and as the smoke gets worse, the health effects get worse as well.

Lang warned the smoky haze isn’t about to stop anytime soon.

“People should be prepared to see smoke until the snow flies, because we have so many fires going on,” said Lang.

More information on up-to-date air quality statements for the province can be found on Environment Canada’s website.