A haze of smoke from wildfires in western Canada made for a spectacular sunrise but degraded air quality across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic on Thursday for the second consecutive day. The smoke traveled the jet stream from nearly 2,000 miles away, where fires in Alberta and British Columbia are burning out of control.
The smoke, especially prevalent in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C. and Northern Virginia, spoiled what would otherwise have been brilliant blue skies across much of the impacted U.S. regions Wednesday and Thursday, with high pressure in control. Instead, the skies have been somewhat grayed by the hazy layer of smoke, which may be holding daytime high temperatures back by a couple of degrees.
Holy smokes. What a satellite view this AM over the Northeast. Quite a dense plume over Maine, Quebec, New Brunswick and western Nova Scotia.
But also some lofted #smoke over #NYC, D.C., even eastern NC. pic.twitter.com/a6xY83s0Dz
— Jonathan Erdman (@wxjerdman) May 11, 2023The fire season in western Canada is off to a fast start due to the combination of drought and lightning strikes, and could be made worse by a heat wave that’s expected to soon spread from northern Canada into Alberta and British Columbia. The fires, including more than 100 active fires in Alberta, have led to recent evacuations in both provinces.
Pockets of moderate air quality were shown Thursday morning on the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov fire and smoke map, especially in and around Pittsburgh. The “moderate” category, one level below “good,” is described as “acceptable” but “there may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.”
On Wednesday in the D.C. area, the smoke remained at higher levels of the atmosphere than when weak winds and a temperature inversion combined to trap smoke from North Carolina wildfires near the ground on March 27. Fire officials in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. received calls that day from people complaining of a burning smell and students at an Alexandria elementary school reported symptoms related to the smoke.
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The Maryland Department of the Environmentcautioned that the smoke could sink closer to the ground on Thursday leading to moderate air quality due to build up of ozone and fine particles.
“Continued subsidence — sinking motion — under a broad area of high pressure will allow the smoke to continue to descend toward the surface,” the department said in an air quality forecast discussion. “Smoke may be sensible (smell/sight) in some areas … sensitive individuals should note the possibility of some diffuse wildfire smoke at the surface, particularly into Thursday afternoon.”
Pictured below, NOAA’s Rapid Refresh smoke model from Wednesday evening shows the long and windy path of the smoke from western Canada to portions of the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
On Thursday morning the model was predicting much of the smoke to drift away to the east on Thursday afternoon and evening as upper-level winds push the plume out to sea. “Most smoke impacts should be leaving the region on Friday,” Maryland’s environment agency said. But warmer temperatures and light winds “will allow ozone to continue upward to the mid and upper Moderate AQI range.”
Smoke tends to filter out certain colors of sunlight, often making the rising and setting sun appear more red or orange. Photographers have been posting colorful sunrise and sunset photos on social media since Wednesday morning.
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