Vermont's Not Great Air Quality About To Get Worse

Smoke and haze from Canadian wildfires obscuring the 
view of Lake Champlain late this afternoon as seen
from St. Albans Hill. An air quality alert is in effect
from midnight tonight to midnight tomorrow night. 

 This afternoon, the Vermont Department of Natural Resources has issued an air quality alert that goes into effect at midnight tonight. It stays in effect until midnight tomorrow night. 

The problem, of course, is that wildfire smoke wafting in from Canada. The air quality index is expected to deteriorate to level orange, which means the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups. 

Well, everybody, frankly. But especially so for people with health issues. Says the Department of Natural Resources:

"People who may be especially sensitive to the effects of elevated levels of pollutants include the very young, older adults, and those with pre-existing respiratory problems such as asthma or heart disease and those working outside.

"People with asthma should follow their asthma action plans and keep quick relief medicine handy."

The sky over Vermont has been really milky looking all day. The blue between the barely-discernible clouds is more of a slate gray color. 

The haze and air quality on the ground wasn't so bad to start the day, but it's been getting thicker all day.  Air quality was considered good this morning and moderate this afternoon, meaning it wasn't terrible, just not great.

The next level is "unhealthy for sensitive groups," which is where we're headed tonight and tomorrow, thus the air quality alert. 

The source of this bad air has taken an odd route. It originated mostly from large wildfires in Alberta. From there, the smoke blew northward into Nunavut, which is in far northern Canada but roughly halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

From there, the smoky air took a sharp right hand turn, heading southward across Hudson Bay and western Quebec and into New England. 

This is the first air quality alert we've had from wildfire smoke this summer, though we've had other hazy days due to this smoke. 

Thanks largely to climate change, these smoky days have gotten more common in recent years. Drought and hotter temperatures, especially in western North America, have gotten worse in recent decades, so fires have followed suit. 

Last year the smoke repeatedly made headlines as Canada had by far its worst wildfire season on record. Smoke from those fires repeatedly triggered dense smog in much of the United States, including Vermont. 

 On the bright side, thunderstorms have been less prevalent in Vermont than expected today. Most of the strong ones have hit New Hampshire, Maine and eastern Massachusetts.