Wildfire smoke will worsen in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic through Friday

( Washington Post )

Dangerous wildfire smoke is filling the skies from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic.

And in some areas, conditions are expected to worsen.

Through Friday, more than 115 million people are forecast to be exposed to air quality levels that are unhealthy or worse as winds funnel smoke south from out-of-control fires in Canada and Minnesota — and a heat dome traps that smoke near the ground.

From late Wednesday into early Thursday, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and New York had some of the worst air quality of the world’s major cities, according to data from IQAir. In Detroit, the air quality index reached a value of 728 late Wednesday, far worse than the peak of 465 in New York during the apocalyptic June 2023 fires.

The smoke drifted into Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware, during the early hours of Thursday morning and was tracking southward along a path that roughly followed Interstate 95.

However, shifting winds closer to Baltimore and D.C. may keep the worst of the smoke out for most of the day Thursday — but not Thursday night. That’s when unhealthy air quality levels are forecast to abruptly develop, as the smoke plume accelerates south, engulfing much of Virginia and parts of North Carolina — conditions that are forecast to last through Friday night.

Meanwhile, a second strong smoke plume is also forecast to waft toward New York and Boston on Thursday afternoon and evening, with the New York City Emergency Management Office warning that “this could become the most significant smoke event in New York City since 2023, and conditions will be closely monitored for any deterioration.”

The city is making free KN95 masks available at all police precincts and public library branches across the five boroughs.

Farther north and west, air quality reached hazardous levels — the worst on the scale — in parts of northern Minnesota, Michigan and northern Wisconsin on Wednesday. These dangerous conditions show no signs of abating on Thursday, although a wind shift on Friday could cause some brief improvements before more smoke may pour south from Canada over the weekend.

Lowest air quality levels predicted through 2 a.m. Saturday

“It is recommended that, when possible, you avoid strenuous outdoor activities, especially those with heart disease and respiratory conditions like asthma,” the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy wrote in a statement Wednesday.

“Keep windows closed overnight to prevent smoke from getting indoors and, if possible, run central air conditioning with MERV-13 or higher rated filters,” the department said.

When will the smokey skies clear?

In New England and the Northeast, dense smoke is forecast to clear on Friday. In the Mid-Atlantic, that clearing may not occur until Saturday, when increasing winds and rain may briefly blow away and dampen the smoke.

Changing winds again on Sunday could usher smoke back into the Northeast, although its intensity is uncertain. That’s when the World Cup final is scheduled to begin, at 3 p.m. in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Some rain on Friday in the areas where fires are burning could bring short-lived decreases to smoke concentrations, but dry weather will follow for the weekend, possibly allowing them to grow once more.

More passing rain is forecast across Ontario on Monday, but sustained wet weather is not expected across the province where around 20 large and out-of-control fires are burning.

The largest fire, about 150 miles north of Lake Superior in the remote Wabakimi Provincial Park, has exploded in size to more than 867,000 acres.

NOAA satellite tracking wildfires experiences ‘anomaly’

On Wednesday afternoon, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite, GOES-19, which provides real-time imagery of conditions across North and South America and the Atlantic Ocean, experienced an ”anomaly” and stopped transmitting data.

NOAA wrote that engineers were working to recover the satellite and that a timeline would be provided when available.

At the time it went down, the satellite was providing imagery that helped with tracking of wildfire smoke.

Another NOAA satellite, called GOES-18, is still capturing wildfire activity, but its view isn’t as central to the fires as that of GOES-19.