Smoke likely to reach B.C. coast, says meteorologist

VANCOUVER — Smoke from California’s deadly wildfires is expected to reach coastal B.C.

“The circulation of air has been carrying smoke offshore from California,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Matt MacDonald. “We have seen some of that smoke move in aloft, but we aren’t seeing any smoke down at the surface where we all live.”

The smoke is being carried north at heights between 20,000 and 25,000 feet, about six or seven kilometres.

“It makes for slightly hazy conditions, but our air quality stations haven’t see any spikes in particulate matter,” MacDonald said.

A ridge of high pressure nestled along the West Coast from California to Vancouver Island has created a plume of smoke that now reaches as far north as Tofino, said Tyler Hamilton of The Weather Network.

Air flows have created “an express route” for fine particulate matter, he said. There is a visible haze in Washington state that is “tinting” views of Mount Rainier.

Computer modelling shows air parcels originating in northern California could make their way to northern Canada, Hamilton said.

A change in air flows over the western United States will push the smoke from California’s fires inland in the days to come, said MacDonald.

The main plume of smoke will flow into Nevada and Idaho.