Edmonton air quality at high risk due to wildfire smoke; city extends extreme weather response

Two weather alerts remained in effect for Edmonton Monday, with ruthlessly high temperatures combining with poor air quality caused by wildfire smoke from out-of-control blazes in the north of the province.

The air quality index in Edmonton continued to be at high risk, leading city officials to extend the extreme weather response for poor air quality. The extension will remain in effect until Wednesday at 9 a.m.

Edmonton’s air quality was rated “eight” on Environment Canada’s index by early afternoon. It was expected to rise to “10+” – or very high risk – later in the day.

Alberta’s capital has been covered in wildfire smoke from across the province since last week. It’s prompted Environment Canada to issue an air quality advisory.

“We’re being plagued by a combination of wildfire smoke that is coming in from British Columbia, northern Alberta, central Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and it’s sort of been sloshing around if I can put it that way in the Prairies for a period of time. We’re not see a lot of dispersion,” said Brian Proctor, a meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Alberta Health Services is advising people, especially the elderly and young children, to stay inside with windows and doors closed. The city has been distributing N95 masks at recreation centres and pools as a result of the smoke.

“N95 masks actually do filter out most of the smoke,” said Anne Hicks, an associate professor of pediatric respiratory medicine at the University of Alberta. “You can still smell smoke through them, and that’s some of the very small particles that can get through, but it filters on a lot of the harmful components.”

The smoky air is combining with extreme heat, increasing the health risks for Edmontonians.

“It makes it really hard because you want to go inside to get away from the heat, but if inside your house is hot and you’re trying to cool it off by opening anything, the smoke is coming in. So sometimes there’s hard decisions to be made,” said Hicks.

“From the heat perspective, it’s very easy to become a little bit dehydrated or become overheated and not really be aware of it.”

A heat warning continued to be in effect for many areas of Alberta Monday, including Edmonton, St. Albert and Sherwood Park. The daytime high was forecasted at 32 degrees Celsius.

“It can trigger things like asthma attacks,” Hicks added. “It can also put a lot of extra strain on your heart, so if you have an underlying heart disease that can also impact you.

“The best thing to do in the heat of the day and in periods when there is a lot of wildfire smoke, or contamination, is to stay out of it.”

Overnight lows will remain warm, ranging from the mid-teens to low 20s, Environment Canada wrote in its heat warning.

There might be some short-term relief on the way; Environment Canada is forecasting rain and temperatures dropping into the 20s this week.

“It looks warm again coming up, and we still have the whole month of August to get through,” said Proctor. “So, we’re going to get more heat, we’re going to get more wildfire smoke. It’s inevitable, unfortunately.”