For the past three weeks, Prince George like the rest of BC has been under some form of an Air Quality Advisory or a Smoky Skies Bulletin.
The northern capital has fallen victim to westerly winds during this time, which is trapping the smoke and causing higher volumes of fine particulate matter in the air due to the rash of wildfires.
“The health risk is moderate and the component that we measure here is the fine particulate matter and our latest measurements from Prince George indicate the 24-hour average concentration of this fine particulate matter is more than four times the acceptable limit,” says Tarik Ayache, Air Quality Meteorologist with the BC Ministry of Environment.
While the early rating is an improvement from what it was on Tuesday, it can still change on a dime.
“It has to do with the fluctuation of the smoke concentration and that’s the nature of the smoke we get from wildfires, it can change quite a bit from hour to hour and that basically has to do with the wind conditions if it changes direction.”
Most of the smoke is coming from the Bulkley Valley and Lakes District due to the eight major fires occurring within the Northwest Fire Centre.
Prince George is likely to see dry and warm conditions in the forecast with little to no precipitation on the horizon leading to an extension of the Air Quality Statement from Environment Canada.
“It’s likely to linger for the next few days at least, there might be some isolated showers and thunderstorms in the forecast but nothing significant to cause any major change in the wildfire activity.”
The province declared a state of emergency this morning due to the 560 wildfires burning in the province.
Here is a breakdown of the air quality health messages by category:
