Here’s Where the Canadian Wildfire Smoke Is Going Next

The Canadian wildfire smoke that stifled the Midwest this week is already beginning to drift east. Chicago, which reported the worst air quality in the world with "very unhealthy" conditions on Wednesday is now reporting "moderate" pollution.

Detroit is still experiencing unhealthy air, and Washington, D.C. and New York are once again reporting elevated levels of smoke pollution.

But the current episode of unhealthy air likely won’t last into the Fourth of July, experts tell The Messenger.

And while nearly 500 wildfires continue to burn across northern Canada, the smoke won’t be traveling south imminently.

A detailed map of smoke patterns made by BlueSky Canada and the University of British Columbia shows the smoke slowly moving east. By Sunday, BlueSky Canada's modeling suggests that only New England will still be dealing with toxic air from the fires. 

You can track smoke pollution in your area using this tool by visiting firesmoke.ca.

“The change isn't going to be rapid, but we will gradually see most of the smoke move from the Great Lakes to the northeast, and New England will be the last to see relief from this particular event,” Washington State climatologist Nicholas Bond told The Messenger.

After the weather patterns aligned to blow the Canadian smoke south earlier this week, "the weather since then has been more stagnant,” said Jalena Bennett, a smoke information specialist with BlueSky, and part of the Weather Forecast Research Team at the University of British Columbia. “It hasn't been blowing the smoke super fast or super far."

Bond said that based on current predictions, the Northeast should expect poor air quality and smoke-filled skies in “a few days” but “it probably won’t be as bad as the event earlier this month” where New York City's air quality was the world in the world.

By next week, both experts predict the smoke will be Canada’s problem, as winds blow smoke from the Quebec and Central Canada fires north. 

“On Monday morning, there is a shift,” Bond explained. “The air from Quebec fires isn't going to be getting into much of the U.S., maybe just New England at that point.”

Then the U.S. should have some relief, but Bennett explained it's difficult to predict smoke patterns too far into the future because there are "so many compounding factors.”

Bond cautioned that even though skies should be cleaner on the Fourth of July, Americans could very well be back under dangerous air conditions again this summer.

Canada's wildfire season is now the worst on record, and some 20 million acres burned—an area roughly the size of South Carolina.

“These are large fires burning in remote areas that are hard to fight,” Bond said, adding we haven’t even entered the usual wildfire season seen in the West during late summer and fall. “What we're seeing is that the fires don't have to be in your backyard to deliver smoke."