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(Trends Wide) — Smoke from the wildfires in Canada is approaching parts of the central US and could persist for days to come, weather and health authorities warned Thursday.
Air quality alerts were issued early Friday in several states, including Nebraska, Washington, Montana and Wisconsin, with a special weather statement on air quality in Wyoming.
The highest concentrations of smoke will move to the east and midwest throughout the day and will affect major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis.
Canada has had a fairly active start to the fire season. Last week, the devastating wildfires in Alberta burned 150 times more area in the province than in the last five years combined, Trends Wide reported.
In Nebraska, smoke from the Canadian wildfires will drift through the area this Friday through Saturday morning, “causing potentially hazardous air quality and poor visibility in eastern Nebraska and Iowa. Limit outdoor activities, if possible, when air quality deteriorates,” the National Weather Service in Omaha tweeted Thursday.
Smoke from the wildfires “is beginning to move into the greater Lincoln and Omaha areas,” the service’s office in Omaha said on Friday afternoon. “Visibility should drop to 1.5 – 3 km in the next few hours, and air quality will enter the unhealthy range for sensitive groups.”
In eastern Nebraska’s Douglas County, which includes Omaha, the health department warned that smoke could linger through Saturday.
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index indicated that parts of the Rocky Mountains, the Great Plains, and the Midwest, including parts of Nebraska and the northeast corner of the state, had air quality of “very unhealthy” air this Friday.
Trends Wide’s Dave Hennen contributed to this report.
