It looked like the smokiest day of the year. It turns out some of it’s fog. That’s what counts as a win in Yellowknife these days.
On social media, residents celebrated on Saturday morning after stepping outside to discover the thick wildfire smoke was actually only about 30 percent wildfire smoke and 70 percent old-fashioned weather.
The NWT has been beset by smoke for three consecutive summers, with at least one of the territory’s communities facing evacuation each season.
Even with the pleasant realization that it’s mostly fog outside, the air in Yellowknife on Saturday still wasn’t great.
PurpleAir monitors in the city gave readings in the 150s as of 9am, defined by the air monitoring firm as: “Some members of the general public may experience health effects with 24 hours of exposure; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.”
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Yellowknife was under a special air quality advisory from Environment Canada and the NWT government on Saturday morning, as it has been for much of the summer.
In other areas, the air was far worse.
Fort Providence registered PurpleAir readings beyond 1,000 on Saturday morning, some of the lowest air quality seen in the territory this summer – which is saying something.
There were reports from travellers of Highway 3 closures overnight in horrendous visibility. The road appeared to be open as of 9am, though a webcam at Fort Providence suggested there was still thick smoke in the vicinity of the community.
Fires near the hamlet have been burning for weeks, though Fort Providence itself – which spent more than a week under an evacuation order – is no longer considered to be in danger.
