Postcard images that hide pollution

Montrealers were treated to quite spectacular Christmas smog which can be explained, among other things, by air pollution.

With the mercury dropping to -17 on December 25, we were treated to an episode of “freezing fog” which colored the city and the trees with a thin layer of ice, comments meteorologist Nicolas Lessard, from The Weather Network.

He recalls that behind this postcard landscape, the air was loaded with atmospheric pollutants caused by the combustion of gasoline vehicles and wood heating.

“The fact that there was very little wind due to an anticyclone meant that the cloud covered the city for a prolonged period,” he continues, recalling that people bothered by respiratory problems must avoid the air outdoors or wear a mask during periods of smog.

Everything should dissipate by Friday, as a new weather system moves in.

High smog

Of the 21 air quality analysis stations on the island of Montreal, four displayed abnormally high levels of smog on December 26 at 11 a.m., which colored the “Downtown” and “Downtown” sectors red. “East” on the City of Montreal air quality index map.

On the South Shore and as far as Montérégie, pollutants in the air were also considered excessive by the Quebec Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The air in Laval, Lachute, Vaudreuil and Huntingdon was deemed “acceptable”.

Fire ban

Wood fires, outdoors or indoors, have been banned for 10 years in Montreal. In addition to being carcinogenic, the fine particles found in smoke have recognized harmful effects on health, as indicated in the regulations on wood heating: “worsening of asthma, childhood bronchitis, lung cancer , premature death in people suffering from chronic heart or respiratory diseases.

But not all municipalities have followed Montreal’s lead, and some still allow wood fires, which could explain the increase in smog in southern Quebec.

“I think it would be a good thing to ban it everywhere in Quebec,” concludes Mr. Lessard.