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Canadian wildfires bring smoke to upper Midwest

Several wildfires in central and northern Canada combined with a northwest flow have resulted in smoke filtering into portions of the Midwest.  Bill Borghoff is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service and says there have been some visibility reductions in the Dakotas, Minnesota and parts of the mid-Mississippi Valley.

“You can certainly notice the smoke (visibility of four to six miles) near the surface, but particularly in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere.  If you go a little further east into Wisconsin, you probably won’t see much.”

He tells Brownfield there are some air quality concerns associated with the smoke.

“Air quality has been degraded over the past day or so.  If you step outside, you may feel your throat get a little scratchy too.”

Borghoff says the air quality issues can effect both humans and livestock, but he’s not aware of any other type of agricultural impact.

“It’s not as concentrated obviously as it is in Canada, where the visibilities are less than a quarter-mile.  I’m not anticipating too many impacts in terms of crops, but certainly some livestock may have some issues.”

As long as the fires continue and the jet stream dips south, he says the smoke will persist.  There is some indication that the weather pattern will push the jet stream further east next week, bringing smoke into the Great Lakes and possibly New England.