Poor air quality in several regions of Canada on Saturday and Sunday

Forest fire smoke in meadows has given rise to warnings and special bulletins on air quality across the country on Saturday.

According to Environment Canada, forest fire smoke reduces visibility and strongly overnight to air quality. These opinions should persist until Sunday in certain regions.

Opinions extend to the whole country, eastern British Columbia in western Quebec, and their intensity varies.

Certain regions of the country are subject to warnings on air quality, in the Northwest territories, in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, where Environment Canada points out extremely high levels of air pollution.

In addition, special bulletins relate to certain regions of British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec, where we expect poor air quality but where health risks are less.

In Quebec, the poor air quality touched certain regions of Nord-du-Québec, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Laurentides, Outaouais and Abitibi-Témiscamingue on Saturday.

The Air Health Coast to monitor

Air quality warnings require that the Air Health rating be 10 or more for at least six consecutive hours, said Serge Besner, a meteorologist at Environment Canada. At the same time, special air quality bulletins are released when the air quality index is between 7 and 10.

The regions where the air quality is the worst are mainly in northern Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, said Besner, particularly near Flin Flon, in Manitoba, and near the Ringe, in Saskatchewan.

The Northwest Territories also recorded an air quality among the worst on Saturday with a health quality index greater than 10 provided for in Fort Simpson.

Winnipeg was the only big city of Canadian meadows on Saturday to be the subject of a special air quality bulletin due to smoke, even if an online forecast of the Alberta government announced levels of the Health Air Cost of 10 Sunday in the northwest of this province, including Fort McMurray.

Even if air quality opinions should always be in force on Sunday, Besner said that he does not think that air quality will deteriorate more than what was observed on Saturday.

Most of the smoke is in the high layers of the atmosphere and, as we have a high pressure system, [la fumée] is essentially pushed to the surfaceexplained Mr. Besner, adding that air quality could deteriorate if smoke descends faster than expected.

A reduced air quality can cause slight irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, while more serious but less common symptoms include chest pain and a strong cough, according to the meteorological agency.

Limit time spent outside

People most exposed to forest fires are infants, children, pregnant people, people over the age of 65 and anyone who suffers from a chronic health or health problem.

Environnement Canada recommends limiting the time spent outside and postponing any outdoor activity or sport.

In Ottawa, a special air quality bulletin is in force. Although the air quality index oscillates around the category low riskEnvironment Canada predicts that it could reach 7 at certain times of the day.

The Ontario government has planned the worst air quality conditions in North Bay, Sault-Sainte-Marie and Sudbury, where the planned air quality index was 7, or 7 high riskSATURDAY.

If the Grand Toronto region was generally spared by the special air quality ballots on Saturday morning, Environment Canada included it in its bulletins in the early afternoon.

The Ontario government provided that this region could record air quality indices of around 5, or moderate riskSunday.

Montreal spared

Special violent time ballots and poor air quality warnings spared Montreal, where thousands of spectators were expected at the Osheaga music festival for its second day on Saturday.

In addition to air quality ballots, heat warnings in the West made the news at the start of the weekend.

Local authorities have extended the measures taken to face the heat wave until Monday.

These measures include the connection of water stations to more than twenty fire terminals and the provision of water bottles by peace agents to distribute them to people in need.