Jenifer Calhoun watched as ash settled on her patio furniture and in her children鈥檚 sandbox.

Calhoun and two of her three children have asthma, which is keeping them indoors.

鈥淚t鈥檚 disgusting, it is way worse than last year,鈥� she said. 鈥淥f course, all of our inhalers are used now.鈥�

The family has been avoiding the outdoors.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been days where you can actually see wisps of smoke in the backyard, like right around face level. I don鈥檛 remember seeing that last year. It was actually way up high, and it went away after a week. This is like it鈥檚 settled in and it鈥檚 not going away,鈥� Calhoun said.

鈥淟ittle Hailey, she鈥檚 been coughing, sputtering tons,鈥� she said. Hailey is four years old.

Calhoun has a cough that won鈥檛 go away, and she makes short trips to the grocery store.

A thick blanket of smoke continues to cover the Okanagan.

In terms of air quality measurements, air quality is measured by particulate matter 2.5, called PM2.5, which is the amount of tiny particles or droplets in the air, according to New York State鈥檚 Department of Health.

琉璃神社 currently has worse air than Jodhpur, India, a city which is considered by the World Health Organization to have some of the worst air in the world. 琉璃神社 sits at 287 PM 2.5 as of 8:3o a.m. while Jodhpur is 183 2.5 PM. The scale ranges from 1 to 500+. Anything above 100 PM 2.5 is considered to carry a health risk.

Currently, Prince George has a reading of 402. To compare, Courtenay has no smoke on Vancouver Island and has a rating of 10. Surrey had a reading of 53.

According to Environment Canada鈥檚 , all of the Okanagan Valley is sitting at 10+ out of 10, which is considered a very high risk.

Related: B.C. city wakes up to darkness under wildfire smoke

Related: Temporary smoke relief in sight for 琉璃神社

The national forecaster recommends avoiding strenuous outdoor activities, and children and the elderly should avoid outside physical exertion.

As of Saturday morning, 琉璃神社 and Vernon鈥檚 air quality was considered hazardous, while Coldstream鈥檚 was considered unhealthy, according to a real-time

Sunday鈥檚 predictions for the Okanagan is expected to reach a level of eight.

edit@kelownacapnews.com
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