Air-quality warning ends for Boundary, though local smoke remains in Grand Forks forecast

Wildfire smoke filters the sun. The Boundary air-quality warning ended Sunday, although local smoke remained in Monday’s Grand Forks forecast.

File photo

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An air-quality warning for wildfire smoke covering Grand Forks, Midway and Greenwood ended Sunday morning, although Environment Canada continued to forecast local smoke for Grand Forks on Monday. Environment Canada listed Boundary among the regions where the yellow warning had ended in a bulletin issued at 9:42 a.m. PDT Sunday.

The warning had been reissued Saturday. The province said smoke in the Grand Forks area was expected to increase overnight and persist into Sunday morning.

The Grand Forks forecast issued at 10 a.m. Monday called for sunshine, local smoke and a high of 27 C. Clear conditions were forecast for Monday night, followed by sunshine and a high of 30 C Tuesday.

At 11 a.m. PDT Monday, the provincial monitor at Grand Forks City Hall reported an hourly fine-particulate concentration of 5.8 micrograms per cubic metre and a rolling 24-hour concentration of 16.83 micrograms per cubic metre. The 24-hour reading was below B.C.’s objective of 25 micrograms per cubic metre.

The monitoring data are preliminary and subject to change during review. The province says wildfire-smoke conditions can change quickly over short distances and vary considerably from hour to hour.

Yellow air-quality warnings were in effect Monday for several other parts of B.C., including the Similkameen and South Okanagan. The province said the listed regions were being affected or were likely to be affected by wildfire smoke over the following 24 to 48 hours.