CALGARY -- Here’s Environment Canada’s Firework model from 6 pm yesterday:

Environment Canada, air quality, Sept. 16Environment Canada, air quality, Sept. 16

We won’t be getting around it, and therefore must go through it. A wave of cool air east of us yesterday has pinned a layer of smoke between southern Alberta and the Rockies, which will gradually fade in the coming days, only to be replenished by a low off the coast of Vancouver Island.

Hazy conditions will remain moving forward, with isolated bumps to a moderate air quality health index from the low end.

Expectations versus reality is a big trend through smoky weather, especially when it comes to our temperatures. The smoke particles function like a cloud, but in a smaller sense; they diffuse light that tries passing through them, which means we’re not faced with the same degree of insolation (the building of solar energy), and therefore cannot be expected to warm accordingly. Earlier this week I discussed how smoke forecasting and the full breadth of its effects on our forecast is still in its infancy; our temperatures prove that. Beyond the accounted-for today, temperatures will almost certainly be adjusted as the picture of our smoke layer becomes clearer.

Well to our north, that cool-air-wave I mentioned could bring another wave of frost advisories, but they are expected to once again roam as far south as Edmonton.

Here’s the five-day forecast:

Today:

  • Some cloud, smoke and haze
  • Daytime high: 15C
  • Evening: smoky, partial cloud, low 7C

Tomorrow:

  • Mainly sunny, but smoky
  • Daytime high: 19C
  • Evening: some showers, low 8C

Friday:

  • "Mainly sunny" with smoke
  • Daytime high: 20C
  • Evening: building showers, low 11C

Saturday:

  • Cloudy
  • Daytime high: 19C
  • Evening: showers, low 11C

Sunday:

  • Cloudy with showers
  • Daytime high: 17C
  • Evening: clear, low 7C

Today’s photo features the Forgetmenot Pond in Kananaskis on a smoky day. Thanks for sending it, Jan!

Forgetmenot pond, Kananaskis, Jan

You can submit your weather photos here.