Gainesville's air quality second-worst in state as wildfire smoke drifts south

Jun. 8—You may have noticed an especially red and hazy sunrise in northeast Georgia Thursday morning as the smoke from Canada's wildfires blanketing the northeast drifts further south.

"We have already seen that smoke in northeast Georgia," said Sam Marlow, a meteorologist with the Peachtree City National Weather Service. He said it's not clear whether that smoke has reached the ground and to what extent it will affect the air quality, but the smoke's visual effects can be seen in a "general haziness," along with "really bright, vivid-red sunrises and sunsets."

"When you look on traffic cams," Marlow said, "you can just see how the sky is not as blue as what we would typically see on a nice summer day."

More than 400 wildfires are raging across Canada in what is expected to be the country's worst wildfire season on record, according to the Associated Press. Smoke from the blazes has been lapping into the U.S. since last month but intensified with recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered out of control Wednesday.

Georgia's Environmental Protection Division forecasted an air quality index of 79 in the Gainesville area as of Thursday afternoon, which falls in the "moderate" range of 51 to 100, when air quality is considered "acceptable," though "there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution," according to the EPD. Gainesville's air quality is the second-worst in the state, behind Dalton, which had an air quality index of 80.

EPD issued a "code orange" air quality alert for the Atlanta area on Friday, advising sensitive groups, including people with heart or lung disease, to limit prolonged outdoor activity during the late afternoon or early evening.

Tens of millions of Americans were under air quality alerts Wednesday, with the air quality index exceeding 400 in Syracuse, New York City and Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, according to AP. A level of 50 or under is considered good, and anything over 300 is considered "hazardous," when even healthy people are advised to stay indoors.

Scientists say rising global temperatures are contributing to more serious wildfires.

Canada experienced an unusually warm May, which dried out the vegetation and contributed to the severity of its wildfires, said Jamie Mitchem, a professor of environmental science at University of North Georgia.

"That's been one contributing factor to how large the wildfires have become and how quickly they spread," he said, which are "close to unprecedented," he added.

"What's shocking about the current situation is that there were massive fires that started out in western Canada — Alberta and British Columbia — back in May, and now we're seeing them also in Quebec and Ontario," he said. "It's multiple provinces and parts of Canada at the same time, so that's fairly unusual."

"Hopefully we start paying attention and realizing that the threat of climate change is accelerating," he said. "I hope this serves as another wake up call that we need to all work together to protect clean air and water."