UPDATE: Tuesday, July 18 – 10 a.m. – An air quality advisory for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley has now been issued.
————————————————–
Smoke from the wildfires has now made its way to Metro Vancouver but officials say it is not bad enough to trigger an air quality advisory yet.
Starting Monday, residents started to notice a blanket of haze covering Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
At first, the smoke was travelling at higher elevations but now a high pressure weather system has pushed that smoke down.
The air quality is worse in the Fraser Valley where the smoke is being trapped.
“Well, the smoke that we see in Metro Vancouver, especially to the east, it trickled in yesterday,” said Global BC meteorologist Mark Madryga on Tuesday morning. “There was a slightly barometric pressure across the B.C. interior and that pushed the air down, the smoke down through the Fraser Canyon yesterday and it trickled out through the Fraser Valley into Metro Vancouver.”
“There is no reason to think it’s going to go away anytime soon. There’s a high pressure ridge over us, very little wind to steer this out of here.”
FULL COVERAGE: B.C. wildfires
Metro Vancouver’s air quality division says they’re keeping a close eye on the situation.
“We haven’t reached levels that would require us to reach an advisory and our trigger levels are really based on levels that would cause adverse health effects,” said Francis Ries with the air quality division.
“Having said that, if people have respiratory difficulties and are experiencing symptoms they should manage their symptoms in ways that they have been advised by their health care provider.”
Get the latest weather updates here with SkyTracker.
Comments