Heavy plumes of smoke from wildfires burning in Canada, North Dakota and Minnesota will move into the Chicago area Friday, leading to hazy skies and potential air quality issues, with an air quality alert already issued for all of Wisconsin.
Illinois will begin to see — and smell — smoke from the wildfires, which have led to a state of emergency in the Canadian province of Manitoba, beginning Friday afternoon, NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Alicia Roman said.
“Smoke really starts to fill in around 5 p.m.,” Roman said, with thick smoke expected across Chicago’s western counties, accompanied by strong wind out of the north. “By 6 p.m., parts of our area could have heavy smoke or haze.”
At that time, the NBC 5 Storm Team’s wildfire smoke map forecast showed a band of heavy smoke stretching from the southwest part of the state to the northeast, sweeping across multiple suburbs and up towards the border of Illinois and Wisconsin in Lake County.
Other parts of northeastern Illinois will see light to moderate wildfire smoke through the evening, Roman said, with smoky and hazy conditions likely to last Saturday morning and into afternoon.
The conditions could lead to poor air quality.
According to the National Weather Service, an air quality alert was issued for all of Wisconsin, including Kenosha County, beginning at 6 a.m. Friday. PM2.5 AQI is expected to reach “unhealthy” levels, especially for sensitive groups, the alert said.
“Air quality will degrade from north to south today as Canadian wildfire smoke pushes in ahead of acold front,” the alert warned. “The front will move into northeast Wisconsin Friday evening and begin clearing theair from northeast to southwest. However, this will also push smoke further south and west, and an additional Air Quality Advisory may be needed on Saturday for western areas if PM2.5 concentrations remain high enough.”
What is AQI?
The U.S. Air Quality Index, or AQI, is the Environmental Protection Agency’s tool for communicating about outdoor air quality and health. It uses six-color coded categories, each corresponding to a range of index values. The colors range from green (“good”), to maroon (“hazardous”).
“The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern,” the website airnow.gov said. “For example, an AQI value of 50 or below represents good air quality, while an AQI value over 300 represents hazardous air quality.”
According to the NWS, air quality in Wisconsin is expected to reach the orange, or “unhealthy for sensitive groups” level on the AQI scale, which includes those with asthma or heart disease. The air quality could even reach the red, or “unhealthy” category as well.
“Make outdoor activities shorter and less intense,” the NWS said. “It’s OK to be active outdoors but take more breaks. Watch for symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath.”
What is PM2.5?
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “PM stands for particulate matter (also called particle pollution): the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air.”
“Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye. Others are so small they can only be detected using an electron microscope,” the EPA states.
PM2.5 in particular involves “fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.” By comparison, the average human hair strand is about 70 micrometers in diameter, or 30 times larger than these particles.
PM2.5 is one of five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act, which also includes ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
What is Chicago’s air quality right now?
As of 5:30 a.m. Friday, Chicago’s air quality was in the yellow, or “moderate” category, with a PM2.5 of 93.
You can find real time air quality for Chicago here.
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