Smoke from wildfires in western Canada is blanketing parts of the midwestern U.S. enough to prompt air quality alerts and warnings.
People in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota were seeing hazy skies as winds from 146 wildfires in British Columbia and Alberta, at least 40 of them deemed “out of control” by the Canadian Interagency Fire Center, lofted smoke southward over the U.S. border.
Southern Minnesota was predicted to reach unhealthy fine-particle levels, prompting state officials to recommend everyone should “limit prolonged or heavy exertion and time spent outdoors.”
Smoke from wildfires blankets the city as a couple has a picnic in Edmonton, Alberta on Saturday. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)Wisconsin also saw haze through the weekend, extending its warning late into Monday. Minnesota officials extended the warning through 11 p.m. Monday. Air quality conditions in all the affected states ranged from “moderate” to “unhealthy” for everyone, NBC News reported.
People in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula also saw hazy skies and reported the smell of smoke, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Phillips.
The smoke was not slated to stop there. The winds could blow it all the way to Iowa and Chicago late Tuesday and early Wednesday, NWS meteorologist Rafal Ogorek said.
In Canada, 86,000 acres had been charred in Manitoba, where evacuations were underway, CNN reported. Residents of several First Nations were forced to leave as the fires rapidly spread.
With News Wire Services
