New York, Chicago Breathes More Canadian Smoke: Weather Watch

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(Bloomberg) — Another plume of smoke from the wildfires burning in Canada is headed across the Great Lakes into western New York, Pennsylvania and the US Midwest. Air quality alerts are already up in some parts of 11 American states, according to the National Weather Service.The smoke will concentrate on the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic on Wednesday and possibly push as far as northern Georgia, said Frank Pereira, a senior branch forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Center. Air quality is set to worsen from Washington to Baltimore on Wednesday, though it might not be until Thursday that smoke clouds New York City.Read More:  NY Skies Set to Darken Again With Smoke From Canada Fires

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Air quality is rated “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Buffalo, according to AirNow’s website. In Canada, the government air quality health index has flagged risks in Toronto and Ottawa. Some of the worst air in North America right now is in Detroit, with a “hazardous” Air Quality Index reading of 337 and a government advisory to stay indoors.  The AQI in Madison, Wisconsin ranges from 262 to 290, according to AirNow. There is an area of low pressure drifting east across North America and on its west side it is pulling smoke down from the Canadian fires, Pereira said. As it continues to slide to the east, more areas of the US East Coast will come under threat. The save for the East Coast could be a second low pressure system forming behind it over the Great Lakes that could push the smoke back into Canada for a few days.

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The problem is that low pressure systems spin counter-clockwise and drift to the east, so eventually they all become threats.“As long as those fires continue to burn and we continue to get these areas of low pressure, they are going to keep pulling these plumes of smoke down through the eastern third of the nation here,’’ Pereira said.Across Canada, 487 fires are raging with 253 burning out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Carbon emissions from the blazes are at record levels, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said Tuesday. In other weather news:US: Wilting heat continues to sear down across the southern US states triggering excessive heat warnings and heat advisories from New Mexico to Florida and even Illinois.India: The annual monsoon, which accounts for about three-quarters of annual rainfall, is set to cover the entire country about a week earlier than usual even after a delayed start.Vietnam: Northern Vietnam, which grappled with power shortages recently, will likely experience a heat wave in days following Thursday.

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