Air quality advisories from Environment and Climate Change Canada have returned to southeast Saskatchewan. 

“We have some smoke that moved into the Weyburn area, bringing reduced visibility and some poor air quality,” advised Samantha Mauti, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. “However, we’re having a little bit of a change in circulation later this week, so expect some widespread smoke for Tuesday and parts of Wednesday, but you should start to see an improvement Wednesday evening.” 

The special air quality statement, which was initially issued Monday afternoon, noted the smoke concentrations can fluctuate and vary from hour to hour. The smoke can cause issues with health, and those with lung disease, heart disease, older adults, children, pregnant women and those who work outdoors are at higher risk of experiencing health effects caused by wildfire smoke.  

Behind the smoke, there will be a change coming into the area that brings substantially cooler temperatures for at least one day, Mauti explained.  

“Basically what’s happening is there’s an upper-level low basically entering the southern parts of the prairies,” Mauti said. “It’s affecting more of Alberta today and it’s expected to track across the prairies through the week, just bringing in the possibility of some showers and thunderstorms – that is part of the circulation that is driving the smoke out of the area – but not a lot of widespread rain expected, just some showers and thunderstorms expected Wednesday and Thursday.” 

The system will be accompanied by strong winds, with the gusts getting up to 50 km/h Tuesday night, and up to 70 km/h during the afternoon Wednesday.  

Behind the rain, though, more sunshine is expected. You can get the latest forecast on the Discover Weyburn Weather page.  

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, we encourage you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the DiscoverWeyburn app.