The National Weather service says winds from a low pressure system in New England delivered the thick smoke from Canada’s raging wildfires to Pennsylvania, leading to unhealthy air quality alerts throughout the state.
The blanket of smoke over the Northeastern Pennsylvania region is making temperatures colder and breathing harder, but David Nicosia, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York, says it should start to clear up tonight as winds push the smoke to the west - barring additional wildfires.
"Predicting how a fire is going to spread in a remote forest, hundreds of miles away, is virtually impossible," Nicosia said.
The smoke started to build in the region on Tuesday, and Nicosia says Wednesday was even worse as winds from the storm system in the New England region continued.
"It's basically we've had north winds north to northwest winds that are taking the air from where these fires are and bringing it right down into, you know, Pennsylvania and New York and a lot of the Northeast," he noted.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a code red for air quality on Wednesday and advised all state residents to limit their time outside, especially older adults, children and people with respiratory issues like asthma.
As of Wednesday, June 7, airnow.gov lists the air quality in the Lehigh Valley as hazardous.
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(Original air-date: 6/7/23)
