Southern Manitoba residents could start to see and smell it over the weekend and Monday, and as of Tuesday morning forest fire smoke has definitely arrived in the region. Environment Canada has issued a Special Air Quality Statement for much of the region west of the Red River to the Saskatchewan border, and northward to the Riding Mountain National Park area. “An upper northwesterly flow in the atmosphere has acted like a conveyor belt, transporting that forest fire smoke from northern Alberta and B.C. to our area,” explained CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. “Based on the current forecast models, it’s likely we will see hazy and smoky conditions for much of the week, ahead of May long weekend.”