Sunny, blue skies breath of fresh air for Kelowna
Westerly winds expected to keep wildfire smoke away from city for next couple of days
And, poof, the smoke is gone. Bright blue skies should return to Kelowna for most of today and Tuesday as a shift in wind banishes a stubborn grey haze from the Okanagan.
Predictions from Firesmoke.ca suggest westerly winds will keep smoke from a large fire at the Canada-U.S. border well away from the Kelowna area.
The high temperature under sunny skies today in Kelowna should be 27 C, according to The Weather Network.
Mainly sunny conditions with temperatures in the range of 20 C to 26 C are forecast for the rest of the week, with a 40 per cent chance of showers on Wednesday.
The fire at the Canada-U.S. border isn’t the only wildfire in the Okanagan. A fire burning between Peachland and Summerland was said by the BC Wildfire Service on Saturday to have scorched 2,200 hectares.
However, the fire was 50 per cent contained and an evacuation order affecting 55 properties in the Meadow Valley north of Summerland was lifted Sunday morning.
“Residents in this area should remain prepared to evacuate if conditions change drastically,” the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen said on its website.
“Darke Lake Provincial Park will remain closed. As well, the province of B.C. will be maintaining restrictions to limit access to Crown land in the backcountry area between Peachland and Summerland,” the RDOS website said.
In the last few days, crews staged a successful controlled burn on the steep, southern slopes of Mount Acland.
“This operation removes fuel from the fire’s path and ensures that the wildfire has less chance of reaching, and breaching, the fire guard,” the BCWS said on its website.
More than 110 firefighters, as well as eight helicopters, were working the fire on the weekend.