Several out-of-control wildfires are burning across the West, forcing local evacuations and keeping firefighters busy as smoke pours across the region and begins to push east.
NEW YORK – Hundreds of wildfires burning across the western U.S. and Canada are spewing dense smoke that is being carried hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away through the Plains and Midwest, all the way to the Northeast.
The smoke is, at best, leading to hazy skies across wide swaths of the nation and, at worst, degrading air quality.
West surface smoke tracker.
(FOX Weather)
A noticeable drop in air quality into moderate ranges stretched across the Plains and Midwest on Thursday morning, with the worst air quality in the inland Northwest and particularly in eastern Oregon, where multiple “megafires” have burned more than 100,000 acres each.
EVACUATIONS EXPAND AS WILDFIRE BURNING NEAR CHICO, CALIFORNIA, EXPLODES IN SIZE
A smoky haze was even washing out the skies around New York City on Thursday, more than 2,000 miles away from the fires.
Northeast smoke tracker on Thursday.
(FOX Weather)
Smoke will continue to reduce air quality across the central states for the days to come. Across the East, a reinforcing push of smoke will dive south out of Canada on Friday, which may be more noticeable compared to Thursday’s haze as there will be less cloud cover, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
U.S. surface smoke tracker.
(FOX Weather)
With the fires showing no signs of stopping across the West, there will continue to be bouts of smoke sent east in the coming days and weeks.
OVER A DOZEN HOMES SCORCHED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE SPARKED BY FIREWORKS
Nearly 90 fires are burning across the West that have scorched at least 100 acres, with nearly 22,000 firefighters battling the blazes.