Wildfire Smoke Updates: Air quality advisories issued in 20 US states

Countless Americans are on high alert for poor air quality as smoke from wildfires in nearby Canada spreads to the US.

Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year, scorching 19.5 million acres, and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. Nearly 500 wildfires are still burning across the country, and more than 250 of them, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, have been declared to be out of control. The smoke has been moving towards the United States for more than a month.

Twenty states in the US are currently experiencing air quality advisories, ranging from Minnesota to Georgia and as far north as western New York.

From Iowa to western Pennsylvania to North Carolina and practically everywhere in between, large swaths of the United States are currently obscured by wildfire smoke from our neighbour Canada. Due to a lake wind that won’t likely last long, only Chicago will have some relief on Wednesday morning.

Later on Wednesday, the smoke is expected to cover areas from Minnesota to Washington, D.C., and all the way down to the Carolinas.

The smoke would be noticed by early Thursday morning in Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh. But by afternoon, it will travel from Detroit to Atlanta via the east, via Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

However, it’s expected that Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and western New York state will continue to receive the most of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires. New York City could be impacted as well.