Seeing a haze over Philadelphia? A wildfire burning hundreds of miles away in Canada is to blame.
The main wildfire has burned over 25,000 acres across the southern end of Nova Scotia, causing thousands in Canada to evacuate.
And, the smoky skies from the fire have led to an air quality alert in our region.
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A Code Orange air quality alert is in effect for most of the region through Wednesday, including the Philadelphia area, surrounding suburbs, Lehigh Valley and all of New Jersey.
A Code Orange means that air pollution concentrations within the region may become unhealthy for sensitive groups, including children, people suffering from asthma, people with heart disease or other lung diseases and the elderly. Those groups are advised to avoid strenuous activity or outdoor exercises on Wednesday.
AirNow, however, says that "the general public is less likely to be affected" under a Code Orange.
Due to high pressure in coastal Maine, the wind carried smoke mainly from Monday into our area Tuesday evening in a northeast to southwest direction.
The next large batch of smoke entered from North Jersey/New York City area into the rest of the Philadelphia region around dinnertime Tuesday. This mid- and low-level smoke plume was then expected over the Pennsylvania suburbs by sunrise Wednesday morning.
The smoke also led to gorgeous sunsets and sunrises Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.
For more information, visit the Department of Environmental protection at www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/AQPartnersWeb, the EPA’s air quality site, AirNow at www.airnow.gov, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s Air Quality Partnership at www.airqualitypartnership.org, or the Air Quality Partnership of Lehigh Valley-Berks at www.airqualityaction.org.
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