Smoke clears over southern Ontario

Wildfire smoke that hung over Toronto for several days cleared Friday, resulting in a notable improvement in air quality, while communities in northern Ontario and western Quebec saw pollution warnings and hazy skies.

Environment Canada had no air quality statements in place for Toronto on Friday but issued several for parts of northeastern Ontario, including North Bay, Sudbury and Timmins, as well as parts of western Quebec.

“Those places are still under smoke from the forest fires,” said Gerald Cheng, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“For places in the south, like Montreal, Ottawa and even much of southern Ontario, the conditions have improved.”

Cheng predicted that some smoke would move back over southern Ontario and Quebec on the weekend but at lower concentration levels. Higher intensity concentrations of smoke are expected north of the St. Lawrence River, he said.

“We are looking at some showery conditions, so there is a chance of showers today, Saturday and even into Sunday,” Cheng said.

In Quebec, dozens of firefighters from France arrived to join the fight against more than 140 fires burning across the province. They headed to Roberval, in the province’s Saguenay-lac-st-jean region, for a briefing before going to work, the province’s forest fire prevention agency said.

In Nova Scotia, most evacuation orders had been lifted on Friday following nearly two weeks of unprecedented wildfires.