Smoky Winter Nights Cast Haze On Air Quality Goals

The City of Courtenay says updated air quality data from the Province shows a trend of improvement in the city, but winter nights remain a concern.

That’s an important finding for the City working to address resident concerns about air quality.

In a release, the City of Courtenay says the average annual concentration of fine particulate matter, a key ingredient in smoke, has been dropping since 2017, which indicates the air is less smoky on average.

However, numbers also show daily increases of fine particulate matter during winter nights, and times of wildfire smoke.

A provincial air monitoring station at Courtenay Elementary School has been collecting data since 2011 and tracking how conditions have changed at this location over time.

To understand how air quality varies across the region, additional PurpleAir monitors have been installed by the City as well as local organizations and residents.

Mayor Bob Wells says 20 of the monitors are now working at locations reporting measurements in the region.

The monitors report real time measurements to an online map.

The Purple Air monitors show a similar daily pattern as the provincial air monitoring station.

“Large increases of fine particulate matter occur during winter evenings, and early mornings. This pattern is consistent with the times of day that people are likely to be home and using wood burning appliances,” said Jeanniene Tazzioli, Manager of Environmental Engineering at the City of Courtenay.

On winter nights, there is a wide variation between the monitor readings.

Older neighbourhoods – with homes likely to use wood burning appliances – consistently have the highest readings of fine particulate matter.

The City notes that, if possible, by saving wood burning appliances for use during emergencies or extreme weather, those regular ‘peaks’ overnight can be reduced.

It also says it understands affordability can be an issue, and points to its website www.courtenay.ca/airquality for information on rebates available for heating upgrades.

To learn more, visit City of Courtenay.