Record-setting summer for smoke

Smoky covers Edmonton once again on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

The smoky conditions have eased (for now) but this summer has become the smokiest on record for Edmonton and a few other Alberta communities.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has released data showing the Edmonton International Airport has had 266 'smoke hours' this summer. That beats the old record from 2018 of 229 hours.

Those records go back to 1961 for Edmonton.

A smoke hour happens when visibility is reduced to 9.7 km or less due to smoke. ECCC says this data is calculated for stations with human observations 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Other stations setting records this summer include: Peace River with 644 smoke hours!

Grande Prairie and Cold Lake also measure more than 500 hours of smoky conditions and Calgary is just shy of 500 hours.

If it feels like the smoky summers are becoming more frequent, that's because they are.

From 1961-2017, Edmonton reported just one year with more than 100 smoke hours (1961). However, three of the past six summers have had more than 100 hours of smoky conditions and two of the past six years have had more than 200 smoke hours.

In fact, rough math puts the average number of smoke hours for 1961-2017 at about 17 hours.

From 2018-2023, the average number of smoke hours in Edmonton is approximately 110 hours.