Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region and in parts of the central and eastern United States. The Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow.gov site showed parts of Illinois, lower Michigan, and southern Wisconsin had the worst air quality in the US on Tuesday afternoon, and Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee had air quality categorized as "very unhealthy." In Minnesota, a record 23rd air quality alert was issued Tuesday through late Wednesday night across much of the state as smoky skies obscured the skylines of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the AP reports.
Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy issued an air quality alert for the entire state. Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources also issued an air quality advisory for the state. In Chicago, officials urged young people, older adults, and residents with health issues to spend more time indoors. "As these unsafe conditions continue, the city will continue to provide updates and take swift action to ensure that vulnerable individuals have the resources they need to protect themselves and their families," Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
Fires in northern Quebec and low pressure over the eastern Great Lakes are sending smoke through northern Michigan, and across southern Wisconsin and Chicago, said Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Jackson added that a north wind would push the smoke further south, moving into Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky later Tuesday and overnight. Earlier this month, massive fires burning stretches of Canadian forests blanketed the northeastern United States and the Great Lakes region, turning the air yellowish gray, and prompting warnings for people to stay inside and keep windows closed. (More wildfires stories.)
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