KENORA — Smoke from a pair of longstanding wildfires in the Kenora area have prompted an air quality warning in southeastern Manitoba — but not across the provincial boundary in Northwestern Ontario.
As of Monday afternoon, the national weather service had the warning in place from just east of Steinbach to the Manitoba-Ontario border and as far north as Gull Harbour.
Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist Geoff Coulson said a stable high-pressure system north of Lake Superior is ultimately resulting in winds blowing from the southeast, sending most of the smoke westward.
“With the light winds today and actually expected tomorrow as well coming from the south to the southeast, most of the wildfire smoke from those fires is blowing into Manitoba itself, not really getting into the province of Ontario,” Coulson said.
“So, that's why, right now at least, the main concerns for air quality remains on the Manitoba side of the border.”
Coulson added that the high-pressure system is relatively slow moving, so the light winds, and smoke issues in Manitoba, are predicted to last into Tuesday.
“The current pattern is a relatively stable one, very slow moving, so we're expecting the overall weather pattern to remain pretty much unchanged over the course of the next few days,” Coulson said.
“The dispersion models indicating where the densest wildfire smoke is occurring, those values are expected to diminish as the smoke disperses somewhat over the coming days,” he continued.
“But, certainly, it looks like for the remainder of today, and possibly for the day on Tuesday, there could continue to be air quality concerns in southeastern Manitoba.”
“Warm and dry conditions will continue to support wildfire activity this week,” according to the weather office’s warning statement. “Winds will also be light which will cause smoke to linger for a prolonged period.”
“During heavy smoke conditions, everyone’s health is at risk regardless of their age or health status.”
Coulson said forecasters are closely watching wind conditions and will alter any warnings if the wind direction changes.
“Given the fact that we're dealing with a pretty stable weather situation, again, it appears likely that the air quality concerns will be the highest in those areas in southeastern Manitoba and not really getting into Ontario all that much.”
