A nudge from mother nature might certainly help curtail the spread of BC's forest fires. For that reason, all eyes and ears are on the weather reports when it comes to the forest fire situation in British Columbia, Canada's western-most province. It seems that manpower isn't always enough when fighting fires on the kind of scale that we're currently seeing in Canada's far west. However, hoping for rain during the dry season can certainly feel futile at times, especially during a state of emergency.
Air-quality warning issued
On that matter, any precipitation would be a welcome help in the interior of British Columbia right now.
As of late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, there is an alert at the Government Of Canada's weather information site for large parts of British Columbia. That might make some think that there is some large storm with precipitation coming. However, it turns out the 'weather' warning, which was issued just before 11 pm Pacific Time on Wednesday night, has to do with Air Quality.
The interior of British Columbia is the region that has been heavily affected by the fires. Travel has been disrupted there with both VIA Rail and Greyhound posting recent travel advisories to their websites. When it comes to the areas affected by smoke from forest fires, there is a larger region of coverage than the area that is directly affected by the fire.
The "Smoky Skies Bulletin" that the Government of Canada released on Wednesday night mentioned a huge area that could be impacted by smoke. That region includes: Kinbasket, North Columbia, West Columbia, East Columbia, Yoho Park, East Kootenay, West Kootenay, Elk Valley, Kootenay Lake, Arrow Lakes - Slocan Lake, Boundary, the Cariboo, Chilcotin, 100 Mile, North Thompson, South Thompson, Shuswap, the Okanagan, Similkameen, Fraser Canyon, and Nicola regions.
Anyone living in those areas will want to stay posted on the government's bulletin and future updates.
Exercise outdoors discouraged?
The government's bulletin states that "Smoke is causing poor air quality and reducing visibility." Due to the first concern, one precaution that people should take is to "Avoid strenuous outdoor activities," perhaps because such activities lead to an increase in heavy breathing.
About reduced visibility, this is a concern that may affect people operating motor vehicles. The air-quality bulletin, which came from Environment Canada and the BC Ministry of the Environment, is in effect until further notice.
