Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

Smoke Show

Weather change Friday set to push smoke out of Kamloops: province

May 18, 2023 | 4:20 PM

KAMLOOPS — It has been another smoky day in the Kamloops area, and all throughout the B.C. Interior, but weather experts say relief is on the way.

Fires in the Peace region are contributing the haze that has spread further south but much of the smoke is coming from dozens of fires burning throughout the province of Alberta. Air Quality Meteorologist Tarek Ayache of B.C.’s ministry of environment says it’s not unusual for smoke to travel so far from its source. What is unusual is how early in the season this is happening.

“We’ve had what we call outflow winds, which means the winds were coming from the north and going southward, going to the coast, and bringing all the smoke from the northern fires throughout the province,” Ayache told CFJC Today.

The province has a Smoky Skies Advisory in place for almost all of B.C., only excluding a small portion of the north coast and far north. However, a change in the weather is predicted to begin this evening, slowly pushing the smoke back toward the north in time for the weekend.

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“There’s a shift in weather patterns,” said Ayache. “The winds are now becoming more from the southwest, so that’s going to be pushing the smoke more northward. We’ll start seeing improvements starting [Friday] mostly, into the weekend.”