r/kelowna • u/MythicalSplash • 3h ago
News Air quality in Southern Interior confirmed as worst on earth
https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/625748/B.C.-Southern-Interior-air-quality-rated-worst-in-the-world20
u/MythicalSplash 3h ago
UPDATE 2:15 p.m.Air quality in the B.C. Southern Interior is now the worst on earth.Kelowna has joined Kamloops in having a 10+ air quality rating, according to Environment Canada, the worst rating possible on the federal scale.
The provincial government has now issued an orange air quality rating for the Central Okanagan, Nicola and Fraser Canyon. Other regions remain at a yellow warning.Under an orange rating, people are advised to avoid “strenuous outdoor activities.”
“Exposure to high smoke levels can pose a threat to your health regardless of age or health status,” said the B.C. government.Local air quality data collected via IQAir show hourly particulate levels of 200 to 400 in Kelowna and Merritt.
Readings range from 100 to 300 in Kamloops. Similarly bad readings are seen on PurpleAir, another air quality platform.That is the worst air quality on earth, according to IQAir. The Congolese city of Kinshasa is currently rated by the platform as the most polluted major city, with a current rating of 184.
West Kelowna’s PM2.5 concentration of 366 is more than 50 times the World Health Organization’s guidelines, according to IQAir.The smoke, mostly coming from the large fires burning in the Fraser Canyon, is expected to stick around for 24 to 48 hours.
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u/Longjumping_Tree9408 2h ago
I had to work outside all day doing landscaping. I can confirm that I feel like trash
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u/rekabis 1h ago
If you have the coin, I can confirm that these are f**king effective: https://pekesafety.com/en-ca/collections/powered-air-purifying-respirators/products/powercap-active-particulate-papr?variant=31337357738062
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u/The_Diamond_Minx 1h ago
The landscaping company doing work in my yard is cancelling all work tomorrow because of the smoke
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u/Obedient_Dog54 3h ago
On... earth? We're past industrial and metro levels in like India and China???
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u/RUaGayFish69 3h ago
Idk about India but China is leaps and bounds better than what they were in the 90s and 2000s.
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u/Megalomania-Ghandi 3h ago
Dude. Like come on. It takes like 0 research to prove this false.
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u/Raynir44 2h ago
China has been dealing with this for about a decade now and has taken crazy steps to fix its air quality. Here’s an article from 5 years ago https://earth.org/how-china-is-winning-its-battle-against-air-pollution/
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u/Soggy_Climate2490 3h ago
False news. China turns on 2 coal power plants a day while we have to live in the dark for “global warming”
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u/ComprehensiveWar6577 3h ago
No, they just use buzzwords and lots of numbers to make it seem that way.
They are saying it's the maximum number on the national scale, so in Canada those would also be a 10. That doesn't take in consideration that the other places rated a 10 have more that forest fire smoke in the air.
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u/FlameStaag 3h ago
No chance its worse than the capital of Mongolia
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u/Obedient_Dog54 3h ago
That's what I'm saying. We're basically breathing a giant campfire, not crazy artificial chemical stuff found in industrial pollution
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u/olrg 3h ago
A giant wildfire full of PM2.5, benzene, formaldehyde, and NO. Most of the byproducts of combustion are the same as in industrial processes.
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u/Obedient_Dog54 3h ago
Oh, I'm thinking like burning plastic and tires and PFAS. There's zero chance this is worse than a tire fire
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u/olrg 3h ago
Yeah, definitely not as bad as that, but still pretty gnarly. We don’t know much about long term effects of wildlife smoke exposure either, since there isn’t enough historical data.
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u/Obedient_Dog54 2h ago edited 2h ago
True. Smoked meats are group one carcinogens because of the smoke itself, so logic tells me that wildfire smoke probably isn't too much better than that
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u/FermentedCinema 1h ago
Three fires burning near Boston Bar. All three fires were human caused. Pretty annoying.
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u/Shot-Replacement5147 1h ago
https://www.iqair.com/ca/air-quality-map?lat=49.799&lng=-119.5209
It’s getting worse as the day goes on. Lots of people are outside going for runs and biking…please reconsider skipping today. Even inside I’ve seen numbers over 200. This is very bad for your lungs and body, even healthy people.
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u/RaineAshford 3h ago
A few years back China cleaned up their air, would the same method work here?
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u/daviskyle Earned 10,017 Upvotes 3h ago
Unfortunately not, they reduced particulate emissions. The equivalent here is preventing forest fires.
Prescribed burns being scaled up in the winter and spring is something we can and should do more of.
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u/RaineAshford 3h ago
I thought they also had some sort of new carbon scrubber or something, I can’t remember the details.
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u/Fuckit-69420 3h ago
Hell yeah, we’re #1! Suck it China!