You might have noticed a change in the air around sunrises and sunsets as of late. National Weather Service Meteorologist Ashley Novak says it's smoke from distant wildfires.
“The highest concentration near this region is actually out in Iowa right now,” Novak says. “The source region for the smoke is coming from the northwest United States and western Canada.”
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She says the smoke isn't as dense as last summer, and it probably won’t get that bad either. Much of the United States saw smoke from fires that burned in Canada in 2023.
“The flow pattern aloft steers where the smoke is actually going to go," she explains. "Since it’s coming from further away in the northwest U.S. and western Canada, it’s a lot farther to travel so it’s a lot more diffuse, and it’s not going to be as intense as last year.”
Novak says the haze might get a little more intense on Thursday. “The main things you’re going to notice… the sunsets might be a little more red or something like that, and you might notice it more so (than) last year where you had the really thick — where you could smell the smoke because that concentration was so much higher.”
She says it probably won’t cause problems, but people who are sensitive should pay attention to air quality alerts.
