Air quality across the eastern US continues to deteriorate as smoke from wildfires raging in eastern Canada spills into the Lower 48.
The smoke is clearly visible through the satellite ring, with the heaviest concentrations in Eastern Pennsylvania, Western New York, New Jersey and the NYC area.
In these areas, visibility is reduced to only a few miles or in some cases to about a mile. Photos posted from these places, including my hometown of Wilkes-Barre, PA, look like something straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie set.
Air quality for much of the eastern United States at least moderately. After we narrow it down to the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and lower Northeast, it quickly moves into the Unhealthy to Dangerous range.
Some people may wonder: how does smoke from the Canadian wildfires get so far south, especially when winds tend to blow from west to east (generally) at latitudes. average?
The answer: our amplifier generalized model.
Anti-clockwise flow around an area of ​​low pressure stretching near New England is directing smoke from the fires in Ontario and Quebec south into the eastern United States.
It’s still most concentrated near the fire’s origin, which means larger cities like Buffalo, Rochester, Philadelphia, New York City, and even Washington DC are (to some extent) suffer its consequences. Unfortunately, this results in a very densely populated area of ​​the country facing very dangerous air quality.
The generalized pattern will remain stagnant at the end of the week. A sheltering ridge over much of Canada would keep temperatures warm and allow very little beneficial rainfall where it needs it most. In addition, the trough will remain on the Northeast. So it makes sense that smoke will continue to be introduced into the Eastern US for the rest of the week. And, as the trough shifts slightly to the west over the next few days, so will the heaviest smoke concentrations.
Smoky skies and poor air quality will persist into the weekend. As the final pattern began to shift slightly over the weekend, so did the direction of the smoke. But for now, exercise extreme caution in any outdoor activity – especially if you’re under denser clouds of smoke!
About the author
Meghan Gulledge
Meteorologist – ’22 Mississippi State Writer for Weather.us and Weathermodels.com. Focus on weather communication. BoyMom x1, CatMom ​​x5. Twitter: @MegGulledgeWX
