Smoke has returned to Vancouver’s skies, and while it’s not as bad as in previous years, it’s already turning sunsets a distinct shade of orange.
There’s no air quality advisory in place yet, but Metro Vancouver’s Airmap forecasts it could get to moderate risk later today. And it’s not just BC wildfires contributing to the situation — but fires south of the border, too.
“The haze being observed now is coming from forest fires burning in BC and Washington state,” Metro Vancouver communications specialist Greg Valou told Daily Hive.
The Lower Mainland is heading into another hot weekend, and Valou warned that the fire danger is high. He asked people enjoying the great outdoors to be “vigilant and careful” about fire risk.
Amir Ali/Daily Hive
Brent Ward, co-director of the Centre for Natural Hazard Studies at Simon Fraser University, told Daily Hive in July that smoky summers are getting more common in BC.
“We’re seeing an increase in the magnitude and the frequency of these periods of higher heat, and so my worry for the future is we have lots of people that are at risk for heat death, and we may see an increase in those occurring,” he said.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is calling for hazy skies over Vancouver for the rest of Friday and Saturday but predicts we could be back to sun and cloud by Sunday. It could feel like 35°C inland this weekend with the humidex.
Environment and Climate Change Canada