Heat dome holds in haze over Okanagan Valley

Photo: Castanet Staff

The heat dome over the province is holding in place stagnant air, causing the air quality to deteriorate in the Central Okanagan.

“It’s a big part of the country not being influenced by the Jet Stream,” said Armel Castellan, meteorologist with Environment Canada. “The Jet Stream going up and over into Alaska and all that active weather is not coming in on the coast, and therefore not making it into the Interior.”

The building heat is trapping pollutants. “Any kind of industrial, residential, vehicle effluent, smoke from fires, whether coming in from south of the border or locally. Those will all pick up in concentration day after day because there’s really nowhere for that stuff to go. So it’s not a surprise to see how the Air Quality Health Index that we issue is starting to creep up,” said Castellan.

Smoke could make it worse later in the week. “A big wild card in the process is whether or not we start to see wildfires start to pick up,” said Castellan. “There’s already a fire just north of Kamloops and right now it’s a southerly flow, but as we go deeper into the week it looks like we could have a little bit more of a north wind, and that could come down from the Thompson and perhaps affect the Okanagan.”

As of noon Tuesday, the BC Air Quality Health Index for the Central Okanagan was up to a moderate risk of 5. Those with underlying health concerns should consider reducing or rescheduling strenuous activities outdoors. Add in the extreme heat, and even healthy people might be at risk if they overdo it.