Smoke slowly clearing, may worsen later in the week

Aug 20, 2018 | 5:48 PM

KAMLOOPS — The smoke is still lingering, but the views of Kamloops are slowly coming back with a slight clearing of the air on Monday. 

According to Purple Air, which has multiple monitoring stations in the city, readings have dropped significantly – in the 150s at its peak on Monday compared to readings upwards of 500 on Saturday. 

“Mainly due to the change in winds,” said Matt McDonald from Environment Canada. “Over the last 2-3 weeks, we haven’t seen much wind. We’ve been stuck on this ridge of high pressure, very stagnant kind of air mass. Finally over the weekend, we saw the flow shift to the northeast, and so that brought some mixing into the lower atmosphere and helped disipate some of the wildfire smoke.”

The improved air, which was a 7 out of 10 at the highest on Monday, was enough to encourage more people outside. But the smoke is still having an impact on the more vulnerable population, including seniors. 

The Centre For Seniors Information in Brock has been bare for the last couple weeks since the smoke started to get worse, as some seniors decide to stay home. 

“In the last couple weeks, we’ve been seeing quite a decline in the seniors that are coming out,” said executive director of the centre Brenda Prevost. “Ordinarily it’s a pretty bustling, busy place with coffee in the mornings, and lots of times cards. The groups in the afternoons are 60 or more players for cards. We’re seeing that’s dropped almost in half recently.”

If seniors are questioning the air quality, staying home is what the centre recommends, especially for its older patrons. 

“It’s just not worth it if you’ve got heart conditions or breathing conditions – asthma, COPD, whatever,” noted Prevost. “It certainly is better to stay at home and not exert yourself in this smoke.”

But if you are remaining indoors to avoid the smoke, be sure your furnace filters are clean. It’s resulted in an uptick in business at places like the Kamloops Home Hardware where filters have been flying off the shelf.

“Every day I’m filling this up, in some cases twice a day,” said employee Michael Holbrook. “Certain air filters are selling better than others because they’re a more common size.”

Experts, though, warn that people should pay close attention and buy the right filter for their home. 

“The entry-level filters you get for your home will not filter the smoke particulates adequately, depending on where you live and what furnace you have,” noted Holbrook, adding people should buy a filter that’s at least a MERV 8. 

Meantime, Environment Canada noted the smoke should continue to clear until Wednesday when the wind patterns shift from the West and bring more smoke back into the city.