BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Smoke from the Canadian wildfires has been transported south and east and is moving back into Pennsylvania.
According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvanians are expected to see poor air quality conditions from the smoke during the overnight hours Sunday night into much of the day on Monday.
- Smoke from fires in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, was expected to move into Pennsylvania on Sunday night
- A Code Orange Air Quality Action Day has been declared for Monday
- Sinking air in the vicinity of a cold front will bring the smoke closer to the surface, the state DEP said
A Code Orange Air Quality Action Day has been declared for Monday.
Sinking air in the vicinity of a cold front will bring some of that smoke closer to the surface, the DEP said in an update Sunday afternoon. Concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) will be recorded at levels that are classified as “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
Concentrations will begin to rise across the region Monday morning into Monday afternoon and persist for much of the day, the DEP said. The highest concentrations of smoke are expected during the afternoon and evening, with some hourly readings in the Code Red range possible, which means the air is “unhealthy” for all based on the EPA’s Air Quality Index scale.
Ozone formation under mostly sunny to hazy skies will result in those concentrations also reaching “the higher end of the good to the low moderate range" on Monday, the EPA update said.
Chances for scattered showers and thunderstorms Tuesday may help to improve conditions, but the air quality alerts may be extended.
