In 2023, Edmonton recorded the very best variety of smoke hours in any yr since Environment Canada beginning monitoring in 1953.
This yr has seen 291 smoke hours to date. That smashes the earlier record of 229 smoke hours, set in 2018.
“We’ve had data in Canada for smoke visibility since around the 1950s… and this is the greatest number of smoke hours we’ve ever seen in Edmonton since these measurements have been made,” mentioned Natalie Hasell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Smoke hours are calculated when visibility is decreased to 6 statute miles or much less.
Hasell mentioned Edmonton will possible have extra smoke hours this yr.
“We’ve beaten the record that we had in 2018, which was 229 smoke hours, and we’re not done,” she mentioned.
“The significant part is that this is continuing and it’s already past mid-month in September. We don’t have any reason to believe at this point that much is going to change any time soon.”
In 2021, Edmonton recorded 126 hours of smoke. In 2022, there have been zero smoke hours.
“A zero-hour year doesn’t mean you didn’t have smoke,” Hasell defined. “It just means you didn’t have enough smoke to reduce visibility to six miles or less.”

The smoke has induced a “rather large number for this year — and continuing,” which Hasell says is reflective of the record-breaking wildfire season Alberta has had — and the fires nonetheless burning throughout the province, in addition to B.C., Northwest Territories and northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“It has to do with the way fires behave and it has to do with our low-pressure centres and high-pressure centres have been moving across the region,” Hasell mentioned.
“We have many — still — many active fires in Northern Alberta, Northern B.C., Northwest Territories. So any time you have wind from the north or northwest, it will bring smoke into northcentral Alberta.”

As of Sept. 18, Alberta had recorded a record-setting 2.03-million hectares burned by wildfires within the 2023 season. Wildfire season formally lasts till October.
“The fact that these fires are persisting has led to many, many hours of poor air quality, visibility reduced and smoke — repeatedly,” Hasell mentioned.
On Sunday, Edmonton’s air high quality well being index was listed as 10+ (very excessive danger). By Monday afternoon, it was a stage 3 (low danger).
Wildfire smoke fills the sky exterior Edmonton on Sept. 17, 2023.
Global News
The extraordinarily poor air high quality led to the Canada West Soccer match being cancelled.
Christy Morin, govt director of the Kaleido Family Arts Festival mentioned pageant organizers have been watching Edmonton’s air high quality carefully.
“We were really concerned about smoke this summer,” she mentioned on Monday.
“We had many meetings with different festival directors and producers… It’s this variable that you don’t know if it’s going to come in or come out, if it’s going to be high or low, and what’s high? And what’s the city standard? What’s manageable and what does health say?
“And then you have a scale that goes one to 10 and we can get levels of 11 and 12, outside the one-10 (range), which is a little confusing.”
Really unhealthy smoke may negatively have an effect on a neighborhood pageant, even power a cancellation, Morin mentioned. Smoke is a high of thoughts.
“Insurance with smoke… What happens if you have to cancel a whole entire festival ? It would cost you $250,000… It could bankrupt, literally, festivals.”

Hasell says protecting an in depth eye on the air high quality and the way you are feeling is vital.
“Especially since you’ve been repeatedly exposed to really poor air quality regularly now,” she mentioned. “This is May, June, July, August and now into September.
“It’s definitely a stressor on the system,” Hasell mentioned, including it could affect psychological well being in addition to bodily.
“Symptoms of wildfire smoke exposure: headaches, mild cough, production of phlegm, sore, watery eyes, nose, throat, sinus irritation.
“And it can get worse. If you start having dizziness, chest pain, severe cough, shortness of breathe, wheezing, including asthma attacks, heart palpitations or an irregular heartbeat, you should be seeking medical attention quite urgently.”

Canadians can monitor focus of wildfire smoke by particulate measurement utilizing Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Fire Works map.
“We look at 2.5 microns, even though smoke is made up of particles of all sizes — big, large smoke and ash pieces to minuscule. It’s the minuscule stuff that makes it into your lungs pretty deep. Most of the other stuff is filtered out by your natural system,” Hasell mentioned.
The particular air high quality assertion that was in impact for Edmonton was lifted Monday, however Hasell doesn’t count on the clear situations to final.
“I would expect in a couple of days, you’re going to be under the smoke again, or dealing with the poor air quality again. It’s just a temporary break.”
Smoke from wildfires in Edmonton on Sept. 17, 2023.
Global News