Thick smoke settled into southern Alberta Thursday, and continued to stifle air quality on Friday.
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Thursday evening, the air quality health index in Calgary jumped from a 4 to 10 in a matter of three hours.
Environment Canada’s air quality health index scale, with 1 being a “low” health risk up to 10+ which is a “very high” health risk.
Cody Coates/Global News
By Friday morning at 11 a.m., the AQHI had launched off the charts and to a score of 18.
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According to Environment Canada’s Health Index, physical exertion and strenuous activities outdoors should be limited or avoided, especially for children, elderly and anyone with respiratory illnesses while the numbers are so high.
Alberta Environment and Parks and Airshed provides raw AQHI data from monitoring stations aross the province.
Cody Coates/Global News
Large sections of northern Alberta are being consumed by wildfires and almost every day has brought new advisories and orders.
The fires are burning in multiple areas hundreds of kilometres apart, triggering evacuations of several communities in northwestern and north-central Alberta.
The smoke travelled farther south, prompting Environment Canada to expand special air quality statements to include the entire southern portion of Alberta.
Weather alerts issued from Environment Canada at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, May 31, 2019.
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Winds will continue blowing from the south over the weekend, which should help improve conditions in southern Alberta.