Airdrie's air quality improves after smoky weekend

A special air quality statement that was issued for Airdrie and the surrounding areas due to wildfire smoke has since ended and residents can expect air quality to improve over the coming days.

According to the Environment and Climate Change Canada air quality index, as of 7 a.m. on Monday, the air quality in the city was rated as 3, which is considered low risk.

However, IQAir's website, rated the air quality in the city at 80, which is moderate.

"PM2.5 concentration in Airdrie is currently 4.9 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value," the website stated on Monday morning.

However, over the weekend, Airdrie's air quality was very poor. Some of the worst air quality was recorded on Sunday morning, with IQAir scoring the air quality at 175, which was deemed unhealthy. On Monday morning IQAir listed Leduc as having some of the worst air quality, followed by Calgary and Lethbridge.

The coming weeks and months will likely trigger more air quality statements as wildfire season is underway. Residents can track smoke through firesmoke.ca, to see where and how smoke travels across the country and the province.

According to the government's wildfire dashboard,45 wildfires are burning across the province, with two wildfires burning out of control in the northern part of the province. While no active fire advisories are in place near Airdrie, Banff National Park is under a fire advisory, with the fire danger rated as high. As of Monday morning, there were four active provincial emergency alerts, all having to do with wildfires.

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