Smoky skies linger over Calgary for Labour Day

As of 11 a.m. on Monday, the air-quality conditions in Calgary sat at a nine, the upper end of high-risk.

Calgarians could see, smell and taste the smoke as it sat thick in the air Monday in the city.

As of 1 p.m., the air-quality conditions in Calgary sat at a nine, the upper end of high-risk.

Throughout Monday morning, air-quality conditions sat somewhere between an 8 and a 10.

That was expected to drop down to a seven at some point Monday night, according to Environment Canada.

A seven is still within the high-risk range.

The Calgary Stampeders said Monday morning it was monitoring air-quality conditions heading into the Labour Day Classic against the Edmonton Elks.

The Stamps posted to X (formerly Twitter) that kick-off "remains set for 5:00pm with Gridiron Gardens (presented by Coors Light) opening at 3:00pm on McMahon Stadium's South Practice Field."

Further updates about the game, if any, would be issued through the team's social media channels, the Stamps said.

Around 1:30 p.m., the Stamps posted again that it was monitoring the situation and as it stood, the Classic was still on.

"The health and safety of our players, staff, and fans are of the utmost importance to us," the Stamps said in the second post.

According to Environment Canada, Calgary has now broken a new record for the number of smoke hours recorded in a single year.

As of Sunday afternoon, the city is at 453 hours in 2023 where smoke has kept visibility at below 10 kilometres.

That smashes the 2018 record of 450 hours and the 2021 mark of 439 hours.

-With files from Stephen Hunt