GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Smoke from the wildfires out west and in Canada is expected to impact air quality in Northeast Wisconsin again this week.
The National Interagency Fire Center reported five new large wildfires burning Monday, bringing the total number of wildfires to 90. More than 1.8 million acres have been burned across 12 states since the fires started.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued an orange level air quality advisory for Brown, Door, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Oneida, Outagamie, Kewaunee and Shawano Counties Monday through noon Tuesday. This means the air quality could be unhealthy for sensitive groups, including children, elderly people, those with respiratory and cardiac conditions, and anyone engaged in strenuous outdoor activities for a prolonged period of time.
Smoke from wildfire activity in Canada is impacting some Wisconsin counties and is anticipated to slowly spread east-southeast Monday into Tuesday morning, according to the DNR.
Craig Czarnecki, public information specialist with the Wisconsin DNR Air Program, said the department evaluates air quality using 40 monitoring sites across the state. He said the sites are selected based on geographical location and population density.
Each site monitors different parameters set by the federal government. Czarnecki said ozone and PM2.5 are the two largest networks the DNR has. He said most monitoring, including PM2.5, is automated. That allows continuous real-time data to be funneled into the DNR network.
Czarnecki said the monitoring sites are reading elevated PM2.5 concentrations during these wildfire events.
“Weather patterns can create conditions for that smoke to settle a little closer to the ground, and that’s why we’re seeing those elevated concentration of fine particulate matter and why our readings are a little higher than they normally would be at this time," Czarnecki said.
NBC 26 Meteorologist Brittany Merlot explains the science behind what we're seeing in Northeast Wisconsin:
“When you have wildfires burning and that smoke is tracking our way, and when you have a high-pressure system, basically it is sinking the air," Merlot said. "So that is taking what is usually up in the atmosphere, bringing it down to the ground level, and that’s where all the pollutants are gathering from that sinking high-pressure system.”
Merlot said that also creates an inversion layer.
"So the pollutants are being dragged down and stuck down here in a sense, and it just keeps building, and getting worse, and worse, and thicker, and thicker. That’s when you see air quality warnings going out," she said.
Eric Adams, a physician assistant with Bellin Health, said shortness of breath is typically the main health concern in these types of conditions.
“Some of the things that can be done is limiting your time that you’re spending outside," Adams said. "Also if you have asthma, or COPD, or any other breathing issues, making sure that you have your inhalers with you. The best is to avoid being outside for a long time when the air quality is poor.”
People can visit the Wisconsin Air Quality Monitoring Data site for the latest information on air quality conditions.
