Air quality advisories and an interactive smoke map show Canadians in nearly every part of the country are being impacted by wildfires.
Environment Canada’s Air Quality Health Index ranked several as being at “very high risk” Friday morning. Those cities are Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and Saskatoon.
But beyond that, according to CTV’s Your Morning meteorologist Kelsey McEwen, smoke is also impacting residents of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
While no formal advisories have been issued, a map from Fire Smoke Canada showed smoke wafting across the entire country. https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/ Based on that data, only a few parts of Canada are spared the smoky skies: central Ontario, northern Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and most of Yukon.
The map also shows smoke wafting across the United States, especially in areas near the Canadian border.
Similar mapping from Environment Canada suggests smoke is expected to be worse in the Prairies and on the Quebec-Labrador border.
An Environment and Climate Change Canada graphic shows smoke across Canada.
Wildfire smoke can be carried thousands of kilometres from the site of the fire, Environment Canada says, meaning smoke can have an impact even in areas nowhere near the actual flames.
“(Fine) particles aren’t visible to the human eye and have been linked to a wide range of health effects,” the weather agency said.
“There is no known safe level of exposure for some of these pollutants. This means that smoke can impact your health even at very low levels.”
Symptoms and health effects range from headaches, a mild cough and sinus irritation to dizziness, wheezing, chest pains and asthma attacks. Shortness of breath and heart palpitations are possible, and in some severe cases, exposure can lead to stroke, heart attack, reproductive and developmental effects and even premature death, Environment Canada warned.
Some are more impacted than others, including seniors, people with chronic health conditions, those who work outside and infants and young children.