Butler to finally gets break from wildfire smoke this weekend
After three consecutive Code Red Air Quality Action Days across Pennsylvania, it appears Butler County residents may finally be able to breathe easy starting Saturday.
Airnow.gov forecasts that the amount of fine particulate matter in the skies over Butler will stay in at a green level, or good quality, for through Monday, July 3. However, there may be a relapse on Tuesday, July 4, with the PM 2.5 level expected to reach the yellow level, or moderate level, of 66, according to the website.
For the past three days, and intermittently throughout the month of June, smoke from Canadian wildfires has drifted over the state of Pennsylvania, creating a haze over Butler County and posing risks to those who stay outdoors for long enough.
Late Thursday, Butler County was expected to be downgraded to an orange level — unhealthy for sensitive groups — but on Friday morning, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, issued a Code Red Air Quality Action Day for all of Pennsylvania.
While orange presents an unhealthy air quality for people with heart disease or lung disease such as asthma, children, teens, people who are active outdoors and older adults, the red level indicates an unhealthy level of particulate matter for anyone who ventures outside.
The same winds that blew smoke-filled air into the region on Tuesday, June 27, helped to push it back out on Friday, June 30, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service of Pittsburgh said.
“The main driver was winds coming out of the west that helped to push it out while bringing in clear or less smoke-filled air,” said meteorologist Jason Frazier.
Frazier says that current weather patterns make it highly unlikely for more smoke-filled air to come into Western Pennsylvania, at least over the upcoming weekend.
“More of our air is either going to come in from the west or from the southwest over the next four to five days,” Frazier said. “That’ll be bringing in air from the Colorado Rockies or the Gulf of Mexico.
“What’s caused us to have smoke in the region is when we have weather patterns that have brought air more from the north, from Canada, and we’re not going to be seeing that over the next four to five days.”
