MONTREAL – Hundreds of wildfires continued to burn across Canada on Friday, as residents braced themselves for what could be the worst wildfire season in recent memory – and one that is far from over.

But the storm system that sent clouds of noxious smoke into the United States was moving on, and air quality in the US was improving for most.

Mr Steven Flisfeder, a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, predicted that the weekend could bring better air quality in Toronto, the country’s largest city and its financial capital. It would be because of some rain and cloud cover near wildfire areas, with scattered rainfall expected in parts of southern Ontario on Sunday.

“That’s going to help flush out the contaminants from the air a little bit,” he said.

In Quebec, where nearly 150 wildfires this week diminished air quality in Ontario and the north-east of the US, Premier of Quebec Francois Legault said on Thursday that the number of evacuees had hit 13,500 but that he expected that number not to rise over Friday and Saturday.

The scale of the fires has stretched firefighting capacity across the country, and firefighters from the US, South Africa, France, Australia and New Zealand, along with members of the Canadian Armed Forces, have been supporting local fire crew.

Drought in parts of Canada’s western provinces contributed to the early, explosive start to the wildfire season in the country, experts say.

Some parts of northern Alberta, which is under a heat warning, are seeing severe drought conditions, according to the Canadian Drought Monitor, a monitoring system the federal government maintains.

The eastern half of the US could see some reprieve from the poor air by early next week, when a cold front is expected to sweep through the region, the National Weather Service said. NYTIMES