Air quality remains an issue today with an orange alert from Environment Canada still in effect. “The air quality is extremely poor. I’ve never seen readings like this off the charts,” said meteorologist Julie Atchison. “We have forest fires that continue to burn in northwestern Ontario and we have a northwest wind that is ushering this plume of smoke right into southern Ontario. So, air quality readings really off the charts in terms of how poor it is outside.” It is advised not to go outside in the smoky conditions when possible. “We go from high risk in London to extremely high risk. This reading is above 10 now, London has seen a brief improvement over the last couple of hours,” said Atchison. “However, I am expecting those readings to be poor heading into the afternoon and evening. Any slight change in the wind does change how this air quality impacts us with that smoke coming in.” Air quality will still be poor heading into the overnight. A shift of wind is needed, Atchison said, but that won’t come until Friday. Event Cancellations Here’s a look at the rest of the forecast Thursday: Widespread smoke. Wind northwest 20 km/h. High 26. Humidex 29. UV index 4 or moderate. Thursday night: Widespread smoke. Low 18. Friday: Widespread smoke dispersing near noon then mainly sunny. High 29. Humidex 32. UV index 9 or very high. Saturday: Cloudy with 60 per cent chance of showers. High 27. Sunday: Sunny. High 25. Monday: A mix of sun and cloud. High 26.
