JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The fire season is off to an early and very busy start in Canada and it's affecting millions of Americans with very unhealthy air quality levels. A strong area of high pressure has helped push the thick smoke in the eastern Canadian provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia into the Northeast United States. There has also been haziness and unhealthy air quality reported in cities as far south as Atlanta.
THE QUESTION
Is air quality on the First Coast being impacted by the Canadian wildfires?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, wildfires in Canada are not impacting air quality on the First Coast
WHAT WE FOUND
The smoke will not be thick and there are none nor will there be any air quality concerns across the Jacksonville area because of the Canadian wildfires, according to the National Weather Service. Any dips in air quality in Jacksonville this week have been from normal pollutants that come from living in a bigger city. Generally, Jacksonville's air quality is in the healthy or "good" category. No health advisories will be issued locally, according to AccuWeather.
The Department of Health oversees the Air Quality Index, which showed the worst levels in the world in places like New York City on Wednesday. The haziness will gradually fade across the area into the weekend as the jet stream shifts the smoke offshore into the North Atlantic.
However, most of the smoke across the Southeast can be attributed to wildfires across the region there versus 1,000s of miles away in Canada, according to the National Weather Service. The same flow that's shifting the smoke off the Northeast coast late this week will also pull the smoke off the Carolina and Georgia coast through Friday.
With a wind shift out of the north on Friday afternoon across the First Coast, it could be possible to see some slight haziness in southeast Georgia especially along the horizon by Friday's sunset. If skies are clear enough, this would call for a more vivid color in the sky as the sun is setting around 8 p.m. The smoke adds to the light scattering more in the atmosphere producing brighter reds and oranges.