...POOR AIR QUALITY IN THE MID-ATLANTIC THROUGH FRIDAY DUE TO
CANADIAN WILDFIRES...
Due to Canadian wildfires, smoke is prevalent in the Mid-
Atlantic region, including the greater Baltimore and Washington
metropolitan areas. Under northwesterly winds, smoke will
continue to be pushed south over our area, resulting in poor air
quality and visibility potentially less than 2 miles at times.
The worst conditions are most likely through Friday morning east
of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with some improvement likely Friday
afternoon.
The forecast for Friday is for a Code Orange for most places east
of the Blue Ridge Mountains including the Washington and
Baltimore Metropolitan areas.
A Code Orange Air Quality Alert means that air pollution
concentrations within the region are unhealthy for sensitive
groups. Sensitive groups include children, people with heart or
lung disease, older adults, pregnant people, and those that spend
a lot of time outdoors.
The effects of air pollution on people can be minimized by
avoiding strenuous outdoor activity or exercising indoors. Go
indoors if you have symptoms.
Be aware of your air quality, which you can track here:
https://fire.airnow.gov More info is here:
https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/
Air quality monitoring and forecasts are done by the states. The
National Weather Service helps to disseminate these air quality
forecasts.
For more information on air quality, including ground-level ozone
and fine particles, visit your states website:
Maryland:
mde.maryland.gov/programs/air/AirQualityMonitoring/Pages/index.aspx
Washington DC:
https://www.mwcog.org/environment/air/forecast/
Virginia:
https://www.deq.virginia.gov/our-programs/air/monitoring-
assessments/air-quality-forecast
West Virginia:
https://dep.wv.gov/daq/air-monitoring/Pages/AirQualityIndex.aspx