‘It can affect everybody’: Wildfire smoke continues to blanket Calgary skies

A blanket of haze once again shrouds Calgary’s skyline on Thursday, as wildfire smoke continues to impact air quality across Western Canada.

From headaches and irritation to severe issues like chest pain and wheezing, reduced air quality can affect nearly everyone physically and mentally.

Dr. Nikhil Joshi is an immunologist with Calgary’s AIIM Centre. He says the main culprit in the air right now is particulates, microscopic particles that cause inflammation when inhaled.

“It can actually affect everybody when the air quality is full of particulate,” he says. “The less severe things are throat irritation, runny nose, and itchy eyes.”

“That’s what we can expect from prolonged exposure.”

Joshi says the particles can cause problems for even the healthiest people, adding it is important to limit time outdoors, particularly for anyone with a pre-existing condition like asthma.

“The severe things that we don’t want to happen are chest congestion, wheezing, difficulties breathing, sinus infection,” he says. “For some people who like to run outside, we’ve even seen a few cases of anaphylaxis.”

Residents are advised to consult a doctor if they experience any chest pain or difficulty breathing.

Air quality expect to improve as weekend approaches

All the smoke this week has come to the city from several directions.

Earlier in the week, it was coming from Central Saskatchewan and B.C. The cold front on Thursday brought smoke from the Northwest Territories.

Meteorologist Kevin Stanfield says the air quality is expected to continue improving as the week progresses.

“An large high-pressure system is pushing a lot of the smoke from the north down on top of us,” Stanfield says. “But, we’re expecting a lot of that north wind to slowly sidle east.”

“This doesn’t necessarily mark the end of summer, but that smoke has done a number on our high temperatures, and it looks like that impact will continue out to the middle of the month.”

Calgary has been sitting around level 5 for air quality on Thursday, with Environment Canada forecasting it will drop lower by the evening.