Butler skies expected to stay ‘hazy,’ air quality warning in effect
The sky over Butler County has looked a little hazy over the past few days, and will likely keep that appearance throughout the week due to wildfires in eastern Canada, according to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
On Wednesday morning, June 7, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection placed the entire state under a Code Red air-quality warning, citing “concentrations of fine particulate matter” related to the wildfires.
The DEP posted an alert Wednesday that said the air quality alerts would continually be updated as “the weather pattern pushing the smoke from wildfires in eastern Quebec” will continue through Friday for most of Pennsylvania.
“We’re pretty much still under this pattern where we have winds coming in from the north,” Shannon Hefferan, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, said.
More than 400 blazes nationwide in Canada have already have displaced 20,000 people and prompted air quality alerts related to hazardous levels of pollution into New York and Pennsylvania. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people.
Smoke from the blazes in various parts of the country has been lapping into the U.S. since last month but intensified with recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered “out of control” Wednesday. The unhealthy haze has held up flights at major airports and caused various public events to be postponed.
AirNow, a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies, said people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should be careful during code red air-quality alerts. The service recommends that people in those demographics avoid strenuous outdoor activities or move physical activities indoors or reschedule them.
Everyone else should choose less-strenuous activities, such as walking instead of running, shortening the amount of time they are active outdoors and waiting until air quality improves to resume outdoor activity.
Code red indicates unhealthy pollution levels, but there are two higher designations that indicate even worse conditions for air quality. They are code purple for “very unhealthy” and maroon for “hazardous” air quality. On Wednesday afternoon, areas in New York and Connecticut were being designated as purple by AirNow.
Hefferan said the weather pattern has made it easier for smoke from Quebec to travel south and affect conditions along the U.S. East Coast — a repeat of a similar situation that occurred in July 2002. That weather pattern likely will continue into the weekend, when the winds will shift to come in from the west.
The 17-day streak of no measurable rain in the region also hasn’t helped the air quality, Hefferan said.
“The last time they had something this kind of event was October 1997. That year they had 22 days of nonmeasurable precipitation,” Hefferan said. “There could be a bit of rain Thursday afternoon. Could that impact smoke? Possibly.”
The smoke coming in from the north also has contributed to the cooler-than-average temperatures the region has been seeing recently.
“The smoke is like a cloud, blocking any radiation from the sun, so we have been trending colder,” Hefferan said. “Today we're supposed to get up to mid 70s. Tomorrow we will only get into the upper 60s. Friday near 70 and a bit warmer. we get to near 80 Saturday and same thing for Sunday.”
U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Taylor said the current weather pattern in the central and eastern U.S. is essentially funneling in the smoke.
Some rain should help clear the air somewhat in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this weekend or early next week, though more thorough relief will come from containing or extinguishing the fires, he noted.
Major League Baseball put off games in New York and Philadelphia, and even an indoor WNBA game in Brooklyn was called off Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration paused some flights bound for LaGuardia Airport and slowed planes to Newark Liberty and Philadelphia because the smoke was limiting visibility.
New Jersey closed state offices early, and some political demonstrations in spots from Manhattan to Harrisburg, were moved indoors or postponed. Striking Hollywood writers were pulled off picket lines in the New York metropolitan area.
Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the nation’s worst wildfire season ever. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated very quickly, exhausting firefighting resources across the country, fire and environmental officials said.
In Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. His administration has contacted some U.S. governors and local officials about providing assistance, she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
