Wildfires in western Canada will likely bring smoke into Ottawa and eastern Ontario starting on Monday and into Tuesday morning.
CTV’s Your Morning chief meteorologist Kelsey McEwan says smoke could travel as far as Quebec City by Tuesday morning with air quality advisories being issued in five provinces.
“You can see the Jetstream pulling that smoke down south of the border through the Dakotas and back up through the Great Lakes,” McEwan said.
“By tomorrow, this begins to slide toward the Ottawa-Gatineau area, tomorrow morning and out toward Quebec City.”
Environment Canada’s Air Quality Health Index monitors the level of air pollution. At 9 a.m. on Monday, the air quality for Ottawa was 2 – ‘low risk.’ The index says the air quality is expected to remain at low risk through Tuesday morning.
As the wildfire season gets underway, central and northern Alberta communities are under an air quality warning Monday as thick smoke moves northeast, a trend expected to continue through Tuesday. Very dense smoke will be present in that area over the next two days, the forecast suggests.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported that, as of May 9, around 90 fires were burning across Canada, including 12 that were classified as out of control.
Of the current fires, 40 are burning in Alberta, 24 in British Columbia and 10 in Manitoba. The four fires burning in New Brunswick are the only ones in Atlantic Canada, while Ontario has two and Quebec one.
Most of Ontario and western Quebec are at moderate risk of wildfires, while eastern Quebec and Atlantic Canada show low risk.
With files from CTVNews.ca and The Canadian Press