Alberta wildfire smoke could make for hazy skies in southwestern Ontario

Environment and Climate Change Canada says smoke from wildfires in Alberta and Saskatchewan has made its way to southwestern Ontario, making for potentially hazy conditions, but relatively unchanged air quality on the ground.

An air quality monitoring network used by the weather agency shows a plume of smoke is passing over the Great Lakes, including the area around Windsor, Chatham-Kent, Sarnia, and London.

The network monitors levels of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and PM 2.5, which is small particulate matter that affects air quality, is smaller than 2.5 microns, and is emitted by wildfires.

"We do expect that there will be a slight increase in the amount of PM 2.5, but not enough to make the quality of air significantly poorer," said Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada.

Still, people across southwestern Ontario are likely to notice hazy skies throughout the evening, Kimbell said.
"Only a bit of it is really at the surface, where you and I live, in the air we breathe," he said.

It's not uncommon for wildfire smoke to make its way down to southwestern Ontario, according to Kimbell. Smoke generally follows wind patterns, which often blow southeastward from the prairies or northern Ontario.

"It can manifest itself as poor air quality at the surface sometimes, but that's fairly rare," said Kimbell.