MICHIGAN, USA — Haziness across the sky – wildfire smoke has returned to West Michigan the past few days and may become a reoccurring issue throughout the second half of summer.
Originating from Canadian wildfires, the upper-air flow since last weekend has allowed smoke to drift from western Canada into a chunk of the United States, including the Great Lakes region. This has allowed enhanced vibrancy of the sun during sunrise and sunset, and a milkier/whitish tint of the sky during the daylight hours.
Wildfire smoke from our northern neighbors impacted Michigan’s skies numerous times last year, prompting multiple air quality alerts throughout the summer.
This bout of wildfire smoke, however, has been mostly concentrated high into the atmosphere across West Michigan, limiting air quality impacts at ground level. Notice, current air quality plummets upstream of the Great Lakes – across North Dakota and Montana – in closer proximity of the ongoing wildfires.
Some concentration of smoke may mix down to ground-level Tuesday night into Wednesday as a cold front sweeps through the Great Lakes. Impacts are expected to remain limited, but air quality may briefly be unhealthy for sensitive groups. Improvement will arrive by Thursday as the positioning of the upper-air flow will prevent additional wildfire smoke to drift into the Great Lakes region.
It’s difficult to say when wildfire smoke will return to West Michigan beyond the short-term forecast but as long as wildfires are continuing across western Canada and/or the United States, it remains possible there’ll be impacts at a later date.
Have a 30-second video or photo to share? We'd love to share it with everyone! Share your images by texting your name and location to 616.559.1310 or email to Weather@13OnYourSide.com or post it to our 13OnYourSide Facebook Page