The Westside Daze fairground July 2025.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

After years of poor air quality due to wildfire smoke, Kamloops and the Okanagan are for once looking better than many parts of the country this year.

“The air quality is quite good across much of southern BC, except for a few isolated areas. But the Okanagan and the Thompson River Valley, including Kamloops, is quite good at the moment,” Environment Canada meteorologist Matt Loney said. 

The Okanagan and Kamloops Air Quality Health Index is at two, with 10 being air that presents a high health risk. The forecast is looking promising with a potential to go up to three this week.

“Of course it's been worse in previous years simply because there have been forest fires that have been more threatening. So we don't have a lot of coverage yet, knock on wood, of forest fires in the province,” Loney said. “They certainly are around and certainly up north especially. But in the southern portion of the province so far there's not a widespread fire outbreak yet.”

The script has flipped with the Southern Interior having clean air and other parts of the country dealing with wildfires and poor air quality.

Smoky air in the Toronto area had many summer camps fielding calls from concerned parents and making last-minute changes. The city was under a warning on Monday as the Air Quality Health Index hit the "very high risk" rating of over 10.

On July 16, Toronto’s air quality is at six on the index, Saskatoon is at five and Medicine Hat is at four.

“Northeastern B.C. and northern Saskatchewan for sure, northern Manitoba have widespread fires and the air quality there is terrible. It's some of the worst conditions you could imagine. Comparatively speaking in B.C. it's been, with the exception of the northeast part of the province, there's been decent air quality this summer,” Loney said. 

The only out of control wildfire in the Southern Interior, as of 2 p.m. on July 16, is in Placer Creek which is at 2,600 hectares.

In previous years wildfires and smoke have had a brutal effect on tourism, but this year there haven’t been any event cancellations due to air quality.

Rain in the forecast for Kelowna, Kamloops, Penticton and Vernon, will hopefully help keep people’s blood pressure down and tourists coming through the region this summer. 

—With files from The Canadian Press.

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