We all know the air quality is not great in the Cariboo right now, but how bad it it ?
We talked to Ralph Adams, an Air Quality Meteorologist, earlier today, and asked him what the measuring instruments were telling him…
“Williams Lake is currently running a 24 hour average of 245 and a last hour at 9 am this morning was 507. Quesnel, although it’s much higher than normal, is running at 152 for the lat hour and a 24-hour average of 81.”
To put those numbers in perspective, Adams says they normally issue a PM-2.5 Air Quality Advisory for fine particulates in the air when the number is 25 or higher for more than a 12 hour period.
He says the situation in the Cariboo right now can change rapidly however as the winds and fire behaviors change.
Adams says you can go from very poor to very good in a matter of an hour…
“In summer because of wildfires and because only have monitoring in larger communities what we are doing is using a new kind of way of informing the public, which was designed with the health authorities, and its called a smoky skies bulletin. What is says really is not that there because they know. so the purpose is to tell people that because of fires around us, this is the health messaging you should be aware of.”
As of 9 o’clock this morning though, Adams considered the air quality in Williams Lake very poor and just poor in Quesnel.
Something going on in the Cariboo you think people should know about?
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