On second thought, maybe I'll do my errands tomorrow. π
(Also, it's now 1:45pm and it'll be dark by 4:30, so I really should try to get out earlier in the day!)
FYI Edmonton, this morning's fog has turned into smog & isn't supposed to clear out until tomorrow (Thursday) night.
https://weather.gc.ca/airquality/pages/abaq-001_e.html
And with all the pretty frost evaporating while temperatures are still well below freezing, I am quite disappointed with the weather today. πΎ
My neighbourhood (Parkallen, Edmonton) is really smoky this evening. Like, I could smell it indoors just from what sneaks into this drafty old house. According to @keithzg's nearby monitor, smoke started to rise around 5:30pm & really shot up an hour later (AKA, nearly an hour ago).
The citywide air quality maps don't have a wave of smoke, which made me fearful that it's yet another arson of a house under construction. But if it is, the fire isn't big enough to be visible in the night sky walking around my block. And there have been no sirens that I've heard.
I'm hoping it's just someone doing something like burning leaves in a backyard firepit. It is mostly a clean woodfire smoke smell, at least.
I just really don't like smelling smoke, at all, anymore.
Yesterday, when it was so suddenly warm, I left the windows open when I went to the grocery store. Halfway there, I could suddenly smell wood smoke & I was super annoyed with myself: I should have know that a major weather shift might bring in smoke! But on the walk back, it was still just that one neighbourhood that had the campfire smell, so I guess it was just someone's campfire. Phew.
And then of course we have today, when the weather shifts back to chilly, and we get a massive city-wide cloud of smoke stank, which even with a bit of rain is strong enough that I can smell it sneaking into the apartment around the closed-as-tight-as-possible-in-this-creaky-old-house windows and doors.
(For other #YEGaq watchers: based on the wind forecast & current regional air quality maps, it should probably improve tomorrow afternoon.)
The #SpecialAirStatement on #AirQuality from #EnvironmentCanada is now in place until 18:00 this coming Thursday evening. π’
Has anyone else in Edmonton been noticing serious fall pollen (or ?) allergies this past month? Even on excellent air quality days like today, I tend to start sneezing when I open up the windows in the morning.
I usually only have allergy issues (other than smoke) during tree pollen season & sometimes right after snow melt if there's lots of mold on the ground. The only pollen plant around this time of year is ragweed, I think, although I suppose with the dry weather there could be other things blowing around with dust.
Also, I just found out that the generic latin name for ragweed is Ambrosia, and that's some serious false advertising, IMO.
Air quality in Edmonton is the best it's been since Sunday, so of course Environment Canada finally has a "Special Air Quality Statement" in effect.
(It was triggered last night when the smoke crossed the "high risk" threshold (7/10 on AQHI) for at least 3 consecutive hours, after 2 straight days just below that point (5 or 6 on AQHI). The statement will disappear when we get 3 consecutive hours of moderate risk. Because warning people that the air was bad is apparently more important than warning people that it will be.)
https://weather.gc.ca/airquality/pages/trends/abaq-001_e.html
Anyone know why today's air in (at least part of) #Edmonton smells like #SourGas?
I could smell it from Capilano all the way to the NE.
While I was filling up, another fellow stopped at the station because he thought there was something wrong with his car.
So that's two random people smelling this today. π¬
Amelia Bellamy-Royds 
Likely Jan Lukas
keithzg