Wildfire smoke from U.S. and B.C. arrive in Sask.

Many in southern Saskatchewan woke up to apocalyptic skies Monday morning thanks to smoke in the upper atmosphere.

The haze is thanks to the fires burning across the west coast, including wildfires burning in B.C., Washington and Oregon. 

• Castlegar particulate matter count soars as smoky conditions haunt southern B.C.

• Air quality alert issued for southwest Alberta as smoke from U.S. wildfires blows in

Even though some of those fires are hundreds of kilometres away, our atmosphere is effective at sending smoke particles extremely long distances.

Over the past couple of days, we have seen a shift in upper atmospheric flow out of the southwest. The smoke gets caught up in that flow and is transported to parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. 

So far that smoke has remained higher up in the atmosphere, meaning our surface air quality heath index has remained low. Expect some of it to clear up Monday night as a low pressure system moves through the northern states, shifting surface winds in Saskatchewan out of the north. 

There is some risk of smoke redeveloping Tuesday. With a cold front passing through the province, we could see some of that mixing down to the surface, affecting air quality. So far that risk of lower air quality Tuesday is fairly small.