Much of North Dakota is under a hazy sky today, with heavy concentrations of smoke and particulate matter from Canadian wildfires blowing into the Red River Valley.
Timothy Lynch is a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks. He says last week’s cold front opened up a flow pattern that has brought the smoke into the northern plains region, and it looks like it will linger and accumulate over the next couple of days. Lynch says the flow pattern should shift eastward by the weekend, which will aid in moving that smoke out. But for now, high pressure is trapping the smoke where it is.
Lynch says later this week – some scattered showers should help the outlook.
"More toward the end of the week, really, into the Friday timeframe - we are looking at Thursday night into Friday, maybe some showers and thunderstorms starting to work their way at first into the Devils Lake Basin, and then eastward into the Red River Valley and northwest Minnesota on Friday into Saturday. And that's what's initially going to help us clear that out a little bit for the early part of the weekend."
Lynch says the near-surface smoke levels today and tonight will be higher than it’s been the last few days, so air quality will remain lower – especially for sensitive groups.
