Canadian wildfires are leading to air quality alerts in Wisconsin. What that means for you.
Most of western and central Wisconsin remain under an air quality advisory through midnight due to Canadian wildfire smoke, according to the National Weather Service in Sullivan.
In areas under the advisory, the air quality is expected to reach the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" level. According to Wisconsin Air Quality Monitoring Data map, the areas around Marathon and Eau Claire counties have already reached that level.
In impacted portions of the state, people can see smoke in the sky, and in some areas, on ground level, said Mark Gehring, NWS meteorologist. Visibilities in some of those areas are ranging from 4 to 7 miles.
"That's from the smoke from the Canadian fires that flared back up now that spring has come," he said. "And, those fires are kind of on the border of British Columbia and Alberta — the northern part of those provinces, so way up in northwest Canada."
A previous air quality advisory was issued for the central and northern portions of the state Sunday afternoon, which expired at 10 a.m. Monday.
"We're still basically seeing a trend from what we had earlier," said Taylor Patterson, NWS meteorologist. "The DNR essentially saw that these trends were going to continue, which is what prompted the re-issuance."
Here's what to know:
What areas of Wisconsin are under the air quality advisory?
The air quality advisory spans from around Grant, Iowa and Green Lake counties northwards, according to Patterson. Around Lincoln County, the area under the advisory curves back to the west, she said.
"All of the eastern and far northern counties are essentially not under the air quality advisory," she said.
Why is there an air quality alert?
"It's essentially a scale that's meant to warn the public when it comes to dangerous levels of air pollution that could potentially cause harm to people," Patterson explained.
That's why we see air quality alerts for ozone and also fine particulate matter.
"In this case, since we're dealing with a smoke/smog-type situation, it's ozone," she said. "That is just because it can make breathing more difficult."
The Air Quality Index is broken into six colored categories on a 0-500 scale and when it gets above 100 air quality becomes unhealthy for certain groups, according to a previous Journal Sentinel report. An AQI level between 201-300 is in the "very unhealthy" category. That means the risk of health effects increases for everyone.
Shortly after 12:30 p.m., Eau Claire was at an AQI level of 152, Lake Du Bay, in Marathon and Portage counties, was at 152, per the Wisconsin Air Quality Monitoring Data map.
Air Quality Index map
What is the air quality index level in Wisconsin today?
The air quality in areas under the advisory is expected to reach the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" level.
Who could be most impacted by the air quality and what should they do?
People with heart or lung disease, older adults and children should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion, the advisory said.
The smoke could cause breathing issues for sensitive groups, Gehring explained. He recommended that sensitive groups in the affected areas should stay indoors as much as possible with their windows closed and limit time outside.
"Even for healthy people, if the concentrations get severe, you could have some effects from it," Gehring said.
Patterson advised reducing or eliminating activities that contribute to air pollution during the advisory, including outdoor burning and lawn mowing.
Where are the Canadian wildfires?
According to a USA Today report:
On Saturday, 3,200 people living in northeastern British Columbia were under an evacuation order, Reuters reported, as fires charred over 24,710 acres.
According to Natural Resources Canada, there are over 100 active wildfires burning in the country, six of which are out of control.
The smoke from those fires is what lead the agency to release the air quality alert, the first of 2024, reports ABC News.
Could the air quality advisory be extended in Wisconsin?
"If conditions continue to persist due to the wildfire smoke, then it would be likely that we'll need another issuance for tomorrow," Patterson said.
She anticipated that the state's DNR would be reassessing the situation prior to the advisory's midnight expiration.
Will the smoke from the Canadian wildfires reach the Milwaukee area?
With the smoke "really slowing down as it approaches southern Wisconsin," Gehring didn't expect it to reach the Milwaukee area Monday.
"Maybe a little bit tomorrow, but it may be just an upper atmosphere, too," he said. "If it stays in the mid or upper levels of the atmosphere, then nobody's affected by it. You'll still see it in the sky, but it won't affect ground level. That's when there's a bigger problem."
Why does Canada have so many wildfires? Will the Canadian wildfires be as bad in 2024 as they were 2023?
Last year, Canadian wildfires caused New York's sky to turn orange and look like a scene out of an apocalyptic movie, a USA Today report said.
However, there's some disagreement among experts about whether the U.S. should brace for a repeat of 2023's air-quality issues.
"It is extremely unlikely that the 2024 fire season will be as extreme as 2023, as 2023 was a record-smashing year," Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, previously told USA TODAY.
He adds that the drought the country faced is a sign of a warmer-than-normal summer and "suggest the potential for an active fire season."
But, Rebecca Saari, an associate professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, pointed out the drought and warm forecast, too, and said that she sees "similar patterns to last year."
In June of last year, the Milwaukee area experienced some of the worst air quality in the world.
USA Today contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's air quality today affected by Canadian wildfires: maps
