The thick pall of smoke that settled over Lillooet on Friday, July 6 is from wildfires burning 1,300 kilometres away in Colorado.

The smoke blanketed many communities in BC’s southern interior, prompting concerned calls to the BC Forest Service regarding smoke and haze.

Wildfire Management spokesperson Fionna Tollovsen said reports came in from worried members of the public in Lillooet, Kamloops, Merritt, Pemberton and even the Cariboo region.

Wildfire officials launched a bird dog reconnaissance plane Friday evening to see if the haze and smoke were hiding any new forest fires in the interior.

"This morning we [also] looked at our satellite imagery and started to look at some of the weather mapping and confirmed that the smoke was actually coming up from the Colorado wildfire," said Tollovsen on July 7.

Over the weekend, officials predicted the smoky conditions would remain in effect throughout this week, which weather forecasters say will be hot and dry.

Tollovsen said the lingering smoke may be caused by a temperature inversion. An inversion occurs when a layer of warm air overlays a layer of cooler air, trapping smoke, dust and other pollutants which would otherwise disperse.