Wildfire smoke from hundreds of fires burning across Canada will continue to send smoke into the U.S. this week, creating air quality concerns for the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast.
Canada continues to have one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, producing some of the worst air quality on record for major cities in the U.S., including the Twin Cities and New York City.
Over the weekend, NOAA’s GOES satellites continued to show the smoke pouring into the U.S., with some particles reaching as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.
The FOX Forecast Center is tracking a prominent ridge of high pressure expected to develop over the Upper Midwest this week. This will allow the winds to blow from the northeast, transporting the smoke from Quebec southwestward into the region.
WHAT IS THE AIR QUALITY INDEX?
The Upper Midwest and Great Lakes are already under the veil of smoke Monday, with light to moderate smoke levels across Duluth in Minnesota and Green Bay and Milwaukee in Wisconsin.
The Northeast is also on the receiving end of the Canadian wildfire smoke. However, it’s nowhere near as bad as two weeks ago when wildfire smoke turned the skies in New York orange and red.
Light smoke is also making its way down into the mid-Atlantic along the Interstate 95 corridor, including Washington.
As of Monday, there are air quality alerts for the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes. The worst air quality on Monday is in Minnesota and South Dakota, where “very unhealthy” and “unhealthy” alerts are in place, including in Lakeville and Rochester in Minnesota.
Other areas are under Code Orange or “unhealthy for sensitive groups” on the air quality index (AQI). Areas near Madison and Milwaukee in Wisconsin are Code Orange, as well as Erie in Pennsylvania.
Nearly 300 active wildfires are burning across Canada at the start of the week. The worst wildfire conditions persist in Ontario and Quebec, causing smoke to flow into the northern U.S.
WHAT’S BELIEVED TO HAVE SPARKED THE CANADIAN WILDFIRES
So far this year, more than 2,300 wildfires have started in Canada, burning over 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres). Lightning likely sparked many of the hundreds of fires burning.