CALGARY -- We’re a ways from being done with the wildfire smoke. While the upper air pattern will continue layering smoke out as far as Quebec today (see the photo below), local accumulations of smoke will stay aloft for much of the day before opening new parts of the province to a mixing-down this evening.

…the surface impact will be less-so, until this evening... here’s Environment Canada’s “Firework” model at 6 pm yesterday:

Environment Canada, air quality, wildfire Environment Canada, air quality, wildfire

Tomorrow’s image shows 10 parts-per-cubic-metre for a wide swath of Alberta. If it pans out as the Firework model suggests (smoke forecasting is, compared to other aspects of meteorology, still in its infancy), that will be enough to smell and enough to convince those with even minor cardiovascular issues to stay indoors, and reschedule outdoor plans. Tomorrow opens a wide door for the air quality advisories to expand.

Currently they’re confined to the higher-elevated regions, at levels where the smoke is already mixed in, in areas including Banff, Canmore, Kananaskis, Cardston, Pincher Creek, Crowsnest Pass.

Further, our outlying upper air setup won’t help billow that along for a few days. In fact, southwesterly flow aloft in the coming days is going to help push even more wildfire smoke into our region.

That all said, here's a look at our days ahead, which must be taken with a grain of salt, since that smoke layer can prohibit us from actually noting our conditions fully.

Here’s the five-day forecast:

Today:

  • Mainly cloudy, smoky
  • Daytime high: 14C
  • Evening: smoky, some cloud, low 6C

Tomorrow:

  • Early showers, then clearing, smoky
  • Daytime high: 16C
  • Evening: some showers, low 7C

Thursday:

  • "Mainly sunny" with some smoke
  • Daytime high: 19C
  • Evening: clear, low 10C

Friday:

  • Mainly sunny, smoky
  • Daytime high: 19C
  • Evening: clear, low 7C

Saturday:

  • Partly cloudy, some showers, thick smoke potential
  • Daytime high: 21C
  • Evening: clear, low 10C

I feel like Ron has had the pic of the day recently – either way, another great shot, Ron!

Peace Bridge, Calgary, lagoon, Prince's Island

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