While the air quality has improved significantly, Alberta Health Services' air quality advisory remains in effect for the Calgary Zone.

With smoke from the massive wildfires in the Pacific Northwest still rolling in, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jason Cabaj says we could still see some ups and downs in the air quality index.

"The air quality is likely going to fluctuate over the next several days, and will range from being in the very-high risk range (10+) down to the moderate and low-risk range (1-6), he says. "We're still advising people to be very cautious about their exposure to the wood smoke."

On Tuesday, the air quality in Calgary and surrounding areas was 10+, and went as low as 3 on Wednesday.

Dr. Cabaj says there's no way to predict when the smoke will completely clear up, the advisory will remain in effect until at least Thursday.

"The forecast we saw yesterday (Tuesday) certainly changed," he says. "What we're seeing today (Wednesday) is different, and again tomorrow (Thursday) might be bringing something else."

Dr. Cabaj says there's no solid numbers for how many people have been effected by the lingering smoke, but there has been a slight influx for emergency department visits.

"We're seeing about a 20 per cent increase over what used to be the base-line for this time of year," he says. "It is really difficult to know how many of those are related to the air pollution, there could be many factors contributing to that. But, what we think we're seeing is a small increase in the healthcare utilization related to this air quality."

More information on the air quality advisory can be found here.