The long-range weather forecast issued Friday morning by Environment Canada offered little encouragement to residents of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Nord-du-Québec regions who want a long, sustained rain event to help extinguishing the many raging forest fires.
For its part, the Quebec government announced on Friday that due to an increase in flammability indices, the regions of Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine were added to the count from noon to those where it is forbidden to make open fires in or near the forest.
Meteorologists have reported that in most municipalities in areas where there are fires, the weekend should be generally sunny and warm and next week will bring only occasional showers and intermittent rain, until Thursday .
According to the federal agency, in Chibougamau, the hot and dry weather will persist until Monday, although there will be slight gradual drops in the mercury. A few showers are expected on Tuesday and Wednesday and intermittent rain is forecast for Thursday.
In the Rouyn-Noranda, Amos and LaSarre regions, after a sunny weekend, barely a few showers are forecast for Monday and Tuesday, but more heavy rain could fall on Wednesday. The municipality of Normétal is located near LaSarre, which is once again threatened by a forest fire.
Further east, in Haute-Mauricie, rain is expected in La Tuque for Wednesday and Thursday. Further north, in the Matagami region as well as in Jamésie, the forecasts call for only intermittent rain, especially for the Waskaganish region.
Rain is expected Wednesday in Val-d’Or, in an area that was not threatened by the forest fires on Friday. It is also towards Val-d’Or that the residents of Lebel-sur-Quévillon, who had received the order to evacuate their municipality, headed Thursday.
As for the residents of the Cree community of Mistissini, located northeast of Chibougamau, they must evacuate their territory this Friday. The approximately 3,800 Aboriginals are directed to Saguenay, but members of the Cree nation with fragile health had already been evacuated to Quebec last Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, Environment Canada reported that the precipitation deficit in northwestern Quebec is now more than a month below seasonal averages. The last significant rainfall was recorded in early May.
On the other hand, Environment Canada maintained Friday that due to the smoke released by the forest fires, a multitude of communities were subject to smog warnings and the federal agency issued several special bulletins on the poor quality of the ‘air.
The movement of the smoke caused several other regions to be the subject of air quality bulletins, including Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Anticosti Island and the entire Côte -North, to Blanc-Sablon.
Environment Canada recalls that smoke from forest fires can be harmful to everyone’s health, even if the concentrations of fine particles are low. People with lung disease or heart disease, the elderly, children, pregnant women, and people who work outdoors are at greater risk of health effects from smoke.
On Friday morning, the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) indicated on its website that its firefighters were fighting 80 forest fires in intensive zones.