Smoke from western Canada wildfires visible across Ontario

Smoke from the wildfires burning throughout western Canada has made its way to Ontario skies today.

Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada, said southern Ontario is shrouded in smoky skies Tuesday due to forest fires blazing across the Prairies.

“We can see a plume of smoke on satellite imagery basically coming from Manitoba, southward across Minnesota and Wisconsin, and across Michigan into southern Ontario,” Kimbell said, adding the smoke's trajectory is constantly changing depending on the jet stream’s orientation.

“We can see the plume going from west to east across the Great Lakes today, but our modelling is suggesting that that’s going to be pushing southward during the day and should be well south of the Great Lakes tomorrow.”

While the hazy skies are set to push out of southern Ontario Tuesday, Kimbell notes northwestern Ontario will bear the brunt of it on Wednesday.

“Northwestern Ontario will have probably an increase in smoky skies tomorrow than compared to today,” he said.

Environment Canada did issue a special air quality statement across parts of the province due to western Canada’s wildfires, but they have since been lifted since the smoke is “a loft” in Ontario’s skies.

The federal weather agency issues air quality statements depending on the quality at the surface, Kimbell said.

“The closest special air quality statement in effect to Ontario right now is in southwestern Manitoba,” she said, adding there is no cause for concern for Ontarians.

Nearly 90 wildfires continue to burn throughout northern and central Alberta as of Tuesday morning – some of which have been classified as “out of control” by Alberta Wildfire. There are also wildfires burning across northeastern British Columbia, northern Saskatchewan, and southern Northwest Territories.