Smoke from Canadian wildfires could return this weekend. Here's what we know

Emily Barnes, Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
·3 min read
1

New York's Southern Tier may be impacted by smoky conditions over the weekend again as a low pressure system moves back into the area.

Last week's poor air quality were the result of a low pressure system over New England, which directed winds from wildfires in Quebec across New York.

Another low pressure system is parking itself over New England, the same one that brought Wednesday's rain showers, says Mike Pellerito, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Binghamton.

"When you get on the back side of low pressure, you get northwest, north winds," Pellerito said. "And so, once again, we'll have to pay attention to what Quebec smoke will be heading our way."

The southward-moving smoke has affected much of the Southern Tier, as pictured here in Apalachin on June 7, 2023.
The southward-moving smoke has affected much of the Southern Tier, as pictured here in Apalachin on June 7, 2023.

How much smoke will we see?

It's not unusual for wildfire smoke and haze to be present in our area from time to time, Pellerito said. However, the smoke typically originates from wildfires in western Canada and drifts by us in the upper atmosphere without us noticing.

That type of smoke will be present Friday and how much the wildfires are burning heading into the weekend will determine how much additional smoke we will see.

"This weekend, we'll have winds from the north and northwest capable of carrying some of that smoke, starting on Saturday, closer to ground level," Pellerito said. "It's hard to get specifics of how thick it'll be."

It typically takes around 24 hours for the smoke from the Quebec fires to reach the region and even longer if it is coming from western Canada, but wind speed is a large factor.

Wildfire smoke map: Track latest fires, red flag warnings across US

How rain impacts air quality

If a boundary, which Pellerito says is similar to a cold front, moves through with rain showers and storms, it has the potential to temporarily push out the smoke, which makes conditions more tolerable.

But, Pellerito said, as long as we get northwest wind, not a lot of rain and few clouds, the smoke plumes are most likely headed our way.

Visual explainer: More wildfire smoke in our futures, experts say. How you can prepare your home.

Can the smoke worsen throughout the day?

The smoke can get worse throughout the day, according to Pellerito, which is similar to what happened last week.

"Any given day, what usually happens is you get the heating of the day, you get some mixing of the air and so it'll tend to thin out existing smoke that's already there," Pellerito said. "But if you have new smoke coming in, you're pretty much at the mercy of what new smoke plumes drop your way and the timing of that."

How to track the air quality in your neighborhood

As long as the fires continue to burn, Pellerito said, we will continue to deal with the resulting smoke.

"It was kind of like the perfect conditions that just got all the smoke here," Pellerito said. "So until those fires are out — and they're not out — we're going to have to continue monitoring that."

The Department of Environmental Conservation issues Air Quality Alerts up to 24 hours ahead of time.

Pellerito recommends tracking the air quality at fire.airnow.gov.

Follow Emily Barnes on Twitter @ByEmilyBarnes. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: NY may see more smoke from Canadian wildfires: Southern Tier impact