Quebec will be able to breathe better by the end of the week since a meteorological system will repel smoke from Western Canadian Forests to the United States.
Braziers in the north of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario plunged the south and east of the province under a large plume of smoke during the weekend.
However, the conditions promise to be “more acceptable” in the coming days, according to Environment Canada.
“We will still have small episodes at the start of the week when air quality could deteriorate, according to meteorologist Marie-Lou Payette. But we still have hope that the air quality becomes good again by the end of the week. ”
This is explained in particular by an anticyclone which should form over Ontario and Quebec.
“Smoke plumes will therefore redirect to the United States,” explains Mme Payette.
It is very difficult to predict precisely if episodes of smoke could happen again in the coming weeks in Quebec.
“It is certain that there will always be back and forth for air quality as long as the lights are active,” warns Marie-Lou Payette.
Recall that Montreal was, in the morning of Saturday, the city with the worst air quality in the world. The IQAir surveillance site then granted the metropolis an index of more than 210, that is “very bad for health”.
In the afternoon, Sunday, the values were already down all over the province, with indices of 155 in Montreal, 126 in Trois-Rivières and 124 in Quebec.
Photo agency QMI, René Leclerc
It was on the southern shore of Quebec, in Lévis, where the air quality was then the least beautiful, with an index of 163, still according to the IQAir site.
All clues deemed “bad for health” and arousing public health warnings.
The CIUSSS of the Capitale-Nationale notably invited to reduce physical activities outside for vulnerable people, that is to say children under the age of 5, people aged 65 and over, pregnant women and people with respiratory, heart or diabetes disease.
Air quality index Sunday afternoon
- Lahore (Pakistan): 174
- Kinshasa (DRC): 171
- Doha (Qatar): 171
- Lévis: 163
- Montréal: 155
- Québec: 124
Source: IQAir