(980 CJME file photo)

By CKOM News

HAZY SKIES

Wildfire smoke could reach southern and central Saskatchewan on Tuesday

May 15, 2023 | 12:27 PM

As wildfires continue to put smoke into the air and reduce air quality in northern Saskatchewan, both Regina and Saskatoon are being put on notice.

Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said a cold front is expected to move across the province late Tuesday into Wednesday. She said that will likely send smoke through central and southern Saskatchewan because of northwesterly winds that are coming in behind it.

“Whether air quality values will reach the values where we issue a special air quality statement remains to be seen because smoke forecasting is quite complicated,” Lang said. “We don’t know how much of the smoke will make it down to the surface, where it’ll affect air quality, or how much will stay up into the higher atmosphere.”

As of 11 a.m. Monday, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said there were 38 active wildfires in Saskatchewan.

Of those, 15 were considered contained and nine were not contained. The total also included 13 fires that are still under assessment (the agency said those fires are “being monitored regularly to assess risk to values in the area”) and one involved the protection of property (which the agency said means “action is focused on protecting values in the area, such as cabins and infrastructure”).

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Special air quality statements were in place in northern Saskatchewan on Monday morning. Lang said over the next few days, the smoke will remain mostly there.

“There’s quite a number of fires and there’s quite a lot of smoke associated with those fires, so until those fires are under control, the smoke will continue to be an issue,” she added.

Whether the situation will improve depends mainly on which way the winds are blowing and the stability of the atmosphere, Lang said.

“The forecasts are indicating there’s very little chance of rain over the next seven to 10 days across the province, so that means things will continue on the warm side and on the dry side,” she explained.

Many people living in the village of Buffalo Narrows were asked to evacuate Sunday as wildfires continue to burn south of the community.

The village declared a state of local emergency Sunday afternoon and issued evacuation notices for people at a higher risk of health complications from smoke inhalation.

Two weeks ago, wildfires in the areas of La Loche and the Clearwater River Dene Nation forced people to evacuate those regions. After a few days, those people were allowed to return to their homes.