SmogRank / Episodes / Canada

Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada, 5 to 7 August 2024

For 3 days, from 5 to 7 August 2024, 12 cities in Canada had PM2.5 at least twice their usual for the time of year. The worst reading was Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada: 127.0 µg/m³ on 5 August, about 3.7× its usual 34.2. Ended 7 August.

No cause namedWe have no fire or smoke records for these days, so we only say what the measurements show.
Cities reached12in 1 country
Days35 to 7 August 2024
Worst day7 August7 cities counted
Furthest above usual4.2×Grand Centre

Day by day

7 August 7 cities at twice their usual or more
Medicine HatReginaAirdrieDrayton ValleyRed DeerCalgaryFort McMurraySwift CurrentPrince AlbertSaskatoonSt. AlbertSherwood ParkEdmontonFlin FlonFort SaskatchewanGrand Centre
2 Aug345678910
Every measured city in the area, coloured by its PM2.5 that day; a dark ring marks a city at twice its usual or more. Bars: cities counted each day, coloured by their median level. Choose a day or press play; without JavaScript, the days link to that day's world ranking.

How it spread

Flin FlonFlin Flon, 2 August: 24.0 µg/m³Flin Flon, 3 August: 46.5 µg/m³Flin Flon, 4 August: 31.9 µg/m³Flin Flon, 5 August: 127.0 µg/m³, 3.7× its usual 34.2Flin Flon, 6 August: 35.7 µg/m³Flin Flon, 7 August: 5.2 µg/m³Flin Flon, 8 August: 20.5 µg/m³Flin Flon, 9 August: 7.1 µg/m³Flin Flon, 10 August: 86.9 µg/m³Grand CentreGrand Centre, 2 August: 4.5 µg/m³Grand Centre, 3 August: 9.8 µg/m³Grand Centre, 4 August: 23.7 µg/m³Grand Centre, 5 August: 50.3 µg/m³, 4.2× its usual 11.9Grand Centre, 6 August: 25.5 µg/m³, 2.1× its usual 12.0Grand Centre, 7 August: 30.3 µg/m³, 2.6× its usual 11.8Grand Centre, 8 August: 15.3 µg/m³Grand Centre, 9 August: 22.8 µg/m³Grand Centre, 10 August: 48.6 µg/m³Fort McMurrayFort McMurray, 2 August: 10.5 µg/m³Fort McMurray, 3 August: 10.3 µg/m³Fort McMurray, 4 August: 10.4 µg/m³Fort McMurray, 5 August: 33.0 µg/m³, 2.2× its usual 14.7Fort McMurray, 6 August: 23.7 µg/m³Fort McMurray, 7 August: 38.5 µg/m³, 2.6× its usual 14.7Fort McMurray, 8 August: 25.7 µg/m³Fort McMurray, 9 August: 26.5 µg/m³Fort McMurray, 10 August: 23.9 µg/m³Prince AlbertPrince Albert, 2 August: 9.5 µg/m³Prince Albert, 3 August: 59.4 µg/m³Prince Albert, 4 August: 56.8 µg/m³Prince Albert, 5 August: 30.5 µg/m³, 2.1× its usual 14.2Prince Albert, 6 August: 43.1 µg/m³, 3.0× its usual 14.5Prince Albert, 7 August: 31.1 µg/m³, 2.1× its usual 15.0Prince Albert, 8 August: 28.3 µg/m³Prince Albert, 9 August: 43.1 µg/m³Prince Albert, 10 August: 17.4 µg/m³EdmontonEdmonton, 2 August: 5.6 µg/m³Edmonton, 3 August: 7.4 µg/m³Edmonton, 4 August: 24.5 µg/m³Edmonton, 5 August: 16.0 µg/m³Edmonton, 6 August: 54.6 µg/m³, 3.7× its usual 14.9Edmonton, 7 August: 19.0 µg/m³Edmonton, 8 August: 22.7 µg/m³Edmonton, 9 August: 20.7 µg/m³Edmonton, 10 August: 17.1 µg/m³Fort SaskatchewanFort Saskatchewan, 2 August: 4.5 µg/m³Fort Saskatchewan, 3 August: 5.9 µg/m³Fort Saskatchewan, 4 August: 23.9 µg/m³Fort Saskatchewan, 5 August: no readingFort Saskatchewan, 6 August: 50.3 µg/m³, 4.0× its usual 12.7Fort Saskatchewan, 7 August: 15.1 µg/m³Fort Saskatchewan, 8 August: 19.9 µg/m³Fort Saskatchewan, 9 August: 15.0 µg/m³Fort Saskatchewan, 10 August: 13.9 µg/m³Sherwood ParkSherwood Park, 2 August: 5.6 µg/m³Sherwood Park, 3 August: 6.0 µg/m³Sherwood Park, 4 August: 16.3 µg/m³Sherwood Park, 5 August: 8.7 µg/m³Sherwood Park, 6 August: 36.6 µg/m³, 3.5× its usual 10.6Sherwood Park, 7 August: 11.4 µg/m³Sherwood Park, 8 August: 14.1 µg/m³Sherwood Park, 9 August: 12.6 µg/m³Sherwood Park, 10 August: 10.0 µg/m³St. AlbertSt. Albert, 2 August: 4.2 µg/m³St. Albert, 3 August: 6.8 µg/m³St. Albert, 4 August: 17.2 µg/m³St. Albert, 5 August: 11.3 µg/m³St. Albert, 6 August: 33.3 µg/m³, 3.3× its usual 10.1St. Albert, 7 August: 9.9 µg/m³St. Albert, 8 August: 15.9 µg/m³St. Albert, 9 August: 13.5 µg/m³St. Albert, 10 August: 10.1 µg/m³SaskatoonSaskatoon, 2 August: 8.8 µg/m³Saskatoon, 3 August: 30.8 µg/m³Saskatoon, 4 August: 22.3 µg/m³Saskatoon, 5 August: 15.6 µg/m³Saskatoon, 6 August: 15.2 µg/m³Saskatoon, 7 August: 42.4 µg/m³, 3.1× its usual 13.5Saskatoon, 8 August: 36.6 µg/m³Saskatoon, 9 August: 52.0 µg/m³Saskatoon, 10 August: 14.8 µg/m³CalgaryCalgary, 2 August: 14.4 µg/m³Calgary, 3 August: 15.7 µg/m³Calgary, 4 August: 25.4 µg/m³Calgary, 5 August: 13.2 µg/m³Calgary, 6 August: 10.2 µg/m³Calgary, 7 August: 33.7 µg/m³, 2.6× its usual 12.9Calgary, 8 August: 22.5 µg/m³Calgary, 9 August: 22.9 µg/m³Calgary, 10 August: 18.2 µg/m³Swift CurrentSwift Current, 2 August: no readingSwift Current, 3 August: 7.6 µg/m³Swift Current, 4 August: 16.4 µg/m³Swift Current, 5 August: no readingSwift Current, 6 August: 9.3 µg/m³Swift Current, 7 August: 30.6 µg/m³, 2.8× its usual 11.0Swift Current, 8 August: 7.3 µg/m³Swift Current, 9 August: 12.2 µg/m³Swift Current, 10 August: 12.7 µg/m³Red DeerRed Deer, 2 August: 9.4 µg/m³Red Deer, 3 August: 15.1 µg/m³Red Deer, 4 August: 18.3 µg/m³Red Deer, 5 August: 14.4 µg/m³Red Deer, 6 August: 12.3 µg/m³Red Deer, 7 August: 25.6 µg/m³, 2.3× its usual 11.1Red Deer, 8 August: 12.4 µg/m³Red Deer, 9 August: 18.0 µg/m³Red Deer, 10 August: 13.4 µg/m³2 Aug345678910
Every counted city, in the order the episode reached them, 3 days before to 3 after. Each square is a day, coloured by that day's PM2.5; outlined: at twice the city's usual or more.
Good0–50
Moderate51–100
Sensitive groups101–150
Unhealthy151–200
Very unhealthy201–300
Hazardous301+

Every city it reached

CityDaysHighestUsualAbove usual
Grand CentreAlberta, Canada3 50.35 August11.94.2×
Fort SaskatchewanAlberta, Canada1 50.36 August12.74.0×
Flin FlonManitoba, Canada1 127.05 August34.23.7×
EdmontonAlberta, Canada1 54.66 August14.93.7×
Sherwood ParkAlberta, Canada1 36.66 August10.63.5×
St. AlbertAlberta, Canada1 33.36 August10.13.3×
SaskatoonSaskatchewan, Canada1 42.47 August13.53.1×
Prince AlbertSaskatchewan, Canada3 43.16 August14.53.0×
Swift CurrentSaskatchewan, Canada1 30.67 August11.02.8×
Fort McMurrayAlberta, Canada2 38.57 August14.72.6×
CalgaryAlberta, Canada1 33.77 August12.92.6×
Red DeerAlberta, Canada1 25.67 August11.12.3×

Daily means in µg/m³, over the days each city counted in this episode. Highest: its highest of those days. Usual: the city's median for the time of year of that day (its days within 21 days of the date, every year, leaving out the week around it). Above usual: its highest day against that, with a usual under 5 µg/m³ taken as 5.

Against other episodes in Canada

Number 31 of 43 episodes in Canada since our records began, by cities reached.

Bars: cities reached; colour: the level of the episode's highest daily reading. All 43.

Use this page

SmogRank, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada, 5 to 7 August 2024: 12 cities with PM2.5 at twice their usual or more, 5 to 7 August 2024, smogrank.com/episodes/2024-08-05-alberta-saskatchewan-and-manitoba-canada (accessed 5 October 2026).

Download top 10 (PNG)

You're welcome to reuse a single chart, image or figure with this citation and a link. Terms.

An episode is a run of days when many cities close to each other (four or more within 350 km on a day, 8 or more in all) each had a daily PM2.5 mean of at least 25 µg/m³ and at least 2 times their usual for that time of year. Found in our own measurements, not picked by hand. How we find episodes. Values are each city's daily mean of its own monitors; causes are the usual kinds for a pattern like this, not a confirmed source.