Air & Wildfire Smoke
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Today's air quality in the Bow Valley, in plain language — updated through the day, with wildfire-smoke season in mind.
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Loading Air & Wildfire Smoke…
Today's air quality in the Bow Valley, in plain language — updated through the day, with wildfire-smoke season in mind.
Loading the latest information…
Town Tools builds free, public tools for Banff and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups People with asthma or a heart or lung condition may feel this — take hard exercise easier today. Most people are unlikely to be affected.
| Day | Air quality |
|---|---|
| Mon, Aug 24 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups |
| Tue, Aug 25 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups |
| Wed, Aug 26 | Moderate |
| Thu, Aug 27 | Moderate |
The townsite sits on the floor of the Bow Valley at about 1,380 m, ringed by mountains. In a wildfire summer, smoke drifting in from fires across Alberta and British Columbia can pool in the valley and linger, even when nothing is burning nearby. Air can be clear in the morning and hazy by afternoon as the wind shifts.
Smoke season runs roughly July through September. On a smoky day, Parks Canada and the Town of Banff may advise limiting strenuous activity outdoors; trail and viewpoint plans are easy to shift to a clearer day. This reading updates through the day so you can check before heading out.
Updated . These are modelled estimates for the area around the Banff townsite, not readings from a street monitor — air right beside a busy road can be worse than the area-wide picture. The official index where you are is the Air Quality Health Index from Environment and Climate Change Canada. Official forecast: weather.gc.ca. Air quality data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), based on Copernicus CAMS.
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
US Air Quality Index (EPA) 123 · the Banff townsite