There are more than 400 fires burning across Canada, with more than half of them out of control, and the wildfire season there is just starting as drought, dry conditions, and high temperatures are fueling the fires.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s satellite map shows a low-pressure center spinning over Michigan that is grabbing the smoke and spinning it around into the upper Midwest and down into the Great Lakes toward some of the large cities.
While smoke is expected to raise some air quality concerns, meteorologists don’t expect it to be as intense as last week, when the Northeast reachedhistoric unhealthy levels. This is because some of these fires are smaller in comparison, and the winds from weather systems are expected to reduce some of the smoke.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 459 active fires across Canada, with 234 of them out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.
Additionally,according to NOAA, some of this smoke from Canada is spreading across the Southern regions of the Central and Eastern United States and is also merging with smoke originating from the ongoing seasonal fires in Mexico and Central America.
Meteorologists predict that we're likely going to be dealing with smoke and air quality issues all summer because Canada’s wildfire season started in May and is expected to last until October.
How to further protect yourself from wildfire smoke while indoors
The issue is the very fine particulate matter that gets inhaled. Breathing that in, even in small amounts, should be avoided.
