Air quality advisory for northern Sask., summer storm hits southern Sask.

An air quality advisory has been issued for most of northern Saskatchewan.

The advisory came into effect at around 7 a.m. on Monday as wildfire smoke creates poor air quality and less visibility.

“Individuals may experience symptoms such as increased coughing, throat irritation, headaches or shortness of breath,” the statement by Environment Canada said. “Children, seniors, and those with cardiovascular or lung disease, such as asthma, are especially at risk.”

The following regions are included in the advisory:

• Cree Lake
• Fond-du-Lac
• Hudson Bay
• Île à la Crosse
• La Loche
• La Ronge
• Melfort
• Pelican Narrows
• Southend
• Wollaston Lake

Parts of southern Saskatchewan experienced a wicked summer storm on Sunday evening.

Dave Carlson with Environment Canada says hail, strong winds and rain came down hard in two separate storms — one north of Regina and another in the Assiniboia region.

“We had golf ball-sized hail in Mankota and the Bengough area and around the Strasbourg area as well, and for wind we had Assiniboia record wind gusts up to 119 kilometres an hour,” Carlson said. “There were some smaller hail reports and smaller wind gusts reported but those were the big ones that we saw last night.

“There were lots of thunderstorms around southern Saskatchewan yesterday evening.”

East of Strasbourg, Saskatchewan
8:10 pm #skstorm pic.twitter.com/TOaDp8jTAF

— Greg Johnson (@TornadoGreg) July 12, 2021

Now that this system has passed through the province, Carlson anticipates it could be a while until we see more rain in central and southern Saskatchewan as we brace for another heatwave.

“We will likely see heat warnings for pretty much the entire southern half of the province,” Carlson said. “We are going to be looking at highs in the low to mid-30s for probably a week and lows barely getting below 20 at night.

“It will be very hot for quite a few days.”

Heat warnings are expected to start popping up in regions around the province by Wednesday.