‘It’s pretty bad:’ Meteorologist on air quality in southern and central Sask.

The air over southern and central Saskatchewan smelled like a giant barbecue Wednesday morning, with special air quality statements remaining in effect.

Robyn Dyck, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said in many parts of the province, the concentration of particulate matter in the air from wildfire smoke is so high it’s off the charts.

“It’s pretty bad,” Dyck said. “That’s resulting in AQHI (Air Quality Health Index) values of 10, which is again top of the charts.”

She also said visibility was reduced quite significantly Wednesday morning at most of the weather office’s weather stations.

“Estevan is a good example. They were not too bad for most of the morning, but (their visibility) went down to 400 metres in smoke,” she added.

Dyck said a cold front dragged the smoke down into southern and central Saskatchewan.

“As the cold front passes, that’s the moment of extreme air quality,” she added. “Then on the backside of this cold front, we do have a northerly flow, which is just ushering all that wildfire smoke from northern Saskatchewan into the area.”

The poor air quality will continue as long as the northerly flow is there, Dyck said.

“There will be some relief … further into the northerly flow farther away from the fires,” she said. “We may not see a clearing out of this wildfire smoke for at least a few days.”

Dyck said the eastern half of the province, including Regina, may start seeing some relief from the smoke overnight Wednesday into Thursday, but added it could be short-lived.

“Then the winds become more northerly and that could bring just the smoke in again,” she explained. “It’s going to be just poor air quality with slide variations of really bad and a little bit better, so there’s not a huge change coming.”

According to the meteorologist, breathing in wildfire smoke is hazardous to people’s health, especially if they suffer from a lung disease such as asthma.

“(People should) stay inside if they can, (drink a lot) of water (and should avoid) doing exercise outside,” she said. “(They should watch) out as well for any type of symptoms of smoke exposure, so like any headaches, coughing, runny nose, chest pains, dizziness.”