Canada Wildfires - Wisconsin Air Quality Alert

The smoke from Canada wildfires has been impacting the U.S. for weeks.

Long Island right now. Brother said like standing over a campfire pic.twitter.com/1kS2MkplS2

— Blue (@emantk7) June 7, 2023

In May, when smoke from Canada's wildfires was filling the sky in Wisconsin, this is how the sun looked at sunrise and sunset. It was a bright red ball piercing through smoke. During the day, the sky wasn't blue. It was gray and hazy. We had air quality alerts in May because of Canada's wildfires.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

In response to continued wildfires in southern Canada, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued an air quality advisory for a large swath of the state. The advisory will take effect at midnight Thursday and will be lifted at midnight Friday night.

In addition to northern portions of the state that have already seen hazy air in recent days, this latest advisory will include the southwest, south-central and eastern portions of Wisconsin, including Milwaukee — with some chance that the western portion of the state will be affected as northern air continues to move south.

According to the National Weather Service, wildfire smoke originating from Canada is expected to move into southern and eastern Wisconsin from northwest to southeast beginning around midnight tonight. Particulate matter concentrations will likely increase rapidly at times before steadily falling as cleaner air takes its place.

In mid-May, the air quality here in Wisconsin was noticeably affected by Canada's wildfires. People with asthma suffered. The sky wasn't blue on "clear" days.

At no point did it look like the sky in New York and on the East Coast. There wasn't any orange tinge. No major outdoor activities were cancelled to my knowledge. MLB games weren't postponed. Flights weren't cancelled. The problem in New York is much more severe and therefore more newsworthy.

Still, it's worth noting that the historically bad 2023 wildfires in Canada didn't just begin to impact the U.S. this week.

It's also worth noting that smoke from wildfires in Canada have impacted the U.S. for years. (Forever?)

There were summers when sunsets in northern Wisconsin were blotted out by smoke at the horizon.

This happens. It's bad when it happens, but it happens.