Active fire season expected to bring more smoky skies across Manitoba
Eastern Manitoba is under an air quality warning due to smoke from the nearby wildfires, and smoke from blazes in Saskatchewan is being blown over northern Manitoba.
It's early in the wildfire season, but Environment Canada meteorologist Natalie Hasell says conditions are only going to get worse.
'Based on our current forecasts, it would not surprise me if things remain difficult,' says Hasell. 'That the season is going to be pretty active looks pretty sure at this point.'
Hasell says the wildfire risk will stay high throughout the summer, and increase across the prairies in August.
Ryan Ness, director of adaptation research at the Canadian Climate Institute, says climate change has made active fire seasons and smoky skies the norm for our summers.
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'We're seeing those warmer, dryer winters,' says Ness. 'We're seeing less precipitation during the warmer seasons, we're seeing more lightning and thunderstorms even with the changing and warming climate.'
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Seniors, young children, pregnant people, and people with heart or lung conditions are most susceptible to health complications due to wildfire smoke. They are advised to avoid strenuous activity outdoors when the air quality is poor.
But Juliette Mucha, president and CEO of the Manitoba Lung Association, says even if you're healthy, the effects of smoke can catch up with you.
'You may not feel it now, or you may just have a little cough right now. But later on, years to come, days, weeks, that's where we can see the damage,' says Mucha.
Mucha says breathing the fine particles in wildfire smoke can do damage equivalent to smoking several cigarettes. She advises keeping the air inside your home as clear as possible.
'Close your windows, and if you're able to, put your A/C on. If you have a fresh air intake, make sure that is off, recirculating just interior air.'
She advises people who don't have air conditioning to go to a library or other public space that does. For those who do need to go outside in heavy smoke, an N-95 mask can filter out some of the harmful particles.
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