Northern Vermont Suffers Arguably Worst Wildfire Smoke Pollution In Memory

Smoke and haze reduced visibility on the Route 2 
causeway between Milton and South Hero,
Vermont Sunday afternoon. 

 A concentrated band of smoke from Canadian wildfires really settled into northern Vermont, along with parts of New Hampshire, Maine and Quebec today.  

The air quality index in Burlington rose to 195, which is considered unhealthy, and almost at the level of "very unhealthy."  Visibility dwindled to as little as two miles or less in the thick haze.

This all was on par with or probably worse than the two other great smoke outs in recent memory, in May, 2010 and July, 2002.  This was certainly worse than the June 6 smoke attack we endured. 

If you live in northern Vermont, I'd suggest staying indoors for the rest of the night. If you have air conditioning, all the better 

Far southern Vermont must have wondered what the fuss was about. Air quality there was just fine all day Sunday. 

A weak, barely perceptible cold front stalled across central Vermont today. The front acted as a sort of wall, damming up wildfire smoke to its north, while preventing it from seeping south much 

Scattered, torrential thunderstorms developed south of this front. A few were making it past the "wall" this evening, but that won't change the smoke conditions much.

We're stuck with the smoke tonight. But early tomorrow, barely noticeable winds first from the east, then southeast, will push the haze and pollution northwestward into southwestern Quebec and Ontario. Air quality is forecast to improve greatly during the day. 

Then, with that humid air flow in place, we'll see a serious uptick in showers and storms, some with torrential rain. As I mentioned this morning, we'll have to watch for local areas of flash flooding tomorrow and the rest of the week under any slow moving or persistent thunderstorms. 

I'll have more on this, and updates in Monday mornings' post.