Smoky conditions linger in Calgary as city reaches record setting temperature
Posted Aug 31, 2017 7:17 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A blanket of smoke coming from wildfires in the Rockies and B.C continues to layer the city.
It moved in Wednesday, prompting a special air quality statement reaching a 7 or 8 or high risk on the scale.
Environment Canada Meteorologist Ron Mark said conditions are expected to improve by Thursday night, but not by much.
“We’re hoping to see some of the wind carry the smoke away from Alberta and into Saskatchewan and Manitoba, however with the fires continuing to burn in B.C these smoky conditions could really return on and off for the next few days here,” he explained.
Mark expects the air quality will sit at about 6 or moderate risk on the scale for much of Thursday.
He adds the weekend looks pretty good temperature wise but the smoke could return and stick around into the beginning of next week.
Wednesday was also a record breaking day for Calgary, the city broke a 21 year old temperature record.
Environment Canada says the mercury hit 33 Celsius in the afternoon, beating the old record of 32.4 set back in 1996.
Calgary wasn’t the only record setter in Alberta.
Seven other spots marked their hottest August 30 ever, including Coronation in east central Alberta, which beat a nearly 70 year old record.
