Metro Vancouver clouded by smoky haze
Posted July 17, 2017 7:50 pm.
Last Updated July 18, 2017 8:05 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The smoke from wildfires in the Interior has wafted into Metro Vancouver.
Francis Rief with Metro Vancouver‘s air quality division says that’s because of a flow of winds, which has caused a haze in the sky.
“At first the majority of the smoke was being carried aloft –so in the upper air– up around the mountain peak level,” says Rief. “So earlier this morning… you could start to see these kind of hazy clouds up on the mountains.”
Rief says some of that smoke has started to move down toward the ground level, but levels are not yet at advisory-triggering levels.
“That being said, obviously it’s a very fluid situation. Definitely the air has become visually hazier as the day has gone on, and we are definitely seeing levels at our monitoring stations start to increase.”
He adds this has been the case particularly in the eastern Fraser Valley, but says you could see levels rise in Metro Vancouver as well.
“It’s definitely more of a visual air quality issue (right now), but as I said earlier, the situation is fluid, and we’re monitoring it very closely because it could change.”
Listeners have been calling into the newsroom and taking to social media to tell us about the smoke-filled skies in their areas.
Jessa who lives in Coquitlam says she had been sensing it throughout most of Monday.
“Around 4 o’clock, there was really no sign of any smells, or fire smells outside, but now there definitely is,” she said, claiming her asthma has been flaring up all day. “My asthma symptoms sort of started to flare up, but more so in the past couple of hours.”
Rief doesn’t expect levels to get as high as what we saw with wildfires in 2015, but it’ll all depend on different factors, like how the weather plays out.
