It has been a smoky day in southern Manitoba. The smoke is the result of forest fires east of Berens River and west of Red Lake.

Marge Unrau, who lives south of Steinbach, says days like today are not a lot of fun when you suffer from smoke allergies, as she does.

Photo credit: Gregg Penner"On days like today there is no opportunity to be out and about really because of the smoke," notes Unrau.

She says in order to avoid going into a coughing fit, she stays inside on smoky days, with the windows closed and the airflow shut off.

"We don't use the air conditioner at that time," she says. "Because it actually does pull it inside somewhat.

For that reason, Unrau says she is extremely thankful that today did not get any warmer than it did.

"That's a very big bonus, yes, I'm very thankful for it," adds Unrau.

The smoky air will likely continue off and on tonight with the worst conditions in parts of the Bissett, Berens River and Poplar River regions closer to the fires. On Wednesday, the smoke should start to disperse as winds shift into the south.

"The shorter the length of time that we have it lingering, the better it is," she says.

Meanwhile, Gregg Penner was up at Lee River overnight when the smoke started to settle in. Penner says he got up around midnight, smelled smoke and thought his neighbour must be having a campfire. Midway through the night, Penner decided to close his window because it was getting hard to breathe.

"It was so heavy this morning that you could actually taste it," he says. "That's how bad it got."

Penner says by mid-afternoon things had started to clear up already. He notes the blue sky was already starting to show at Lee River and the sun was warming the air temperature again.