Much of British Columbia’s interior under wildfire smoke advisory

Environment Canada says many areas in the interior of British Columbia will be affected by wildfire smoke over the next 24 to 48 hours.

Released on Saturday, the air quality readings stretch from the Fraser Canyon in the west to the Alberta border in the east, and from the Cariboo in the north to the US border.

“Wildfire smoke impacts are present or expected to occur across much of the interior and northeast,” the national weather agency said.

« The impacts are due to long-range transport from the fires in Washington and Oregon as well as smoke from local wildfires. »

Environment Canada says the smoke may dissipate in some areas this afternoon as an upper level low moves into the southern interior, but conditions are expected to persist in most areas overnight.

The Firesmoke.ca website has an interactive map that shows predicted smoke patterns from wildfires in North America.

Additionally, the province’s Air Quality Health Index provides hourly readings.

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The CAS scale ranges from 1 to 10 and above and is divided into four categories: low risk (1-3), moderate risk (4-6), high risk (7-10) and very high risk (more than 10) .

At 4 p.m., for example, the Central Okanagan was rated at 3 (low risk) while the North Okanagan was at 4 (moderate risk) while Castlegar and Cranbrook were both at 6 (moderate risk) .