The Brief
Canadian wildfire smoke continues to impact Wisconsin's surface air quality.
At one point, IQAir had Beloit, Milwaukee and Green Bay as part of the top 10 cities with the worst air quality in the nation.
People with heart or lung disease, older adults and children should consider making outdoor activities shorter and less intense and reducing heavy exertion.
MILWAUKEE - At one point on Thursday afternoon, July 31, Wisconsin held three spots in a top 10 list of American cities with the worst air quality.
It has improved some, but the source of the unhealthy air isn't improving much at all.
What we know
Severe drought is helping fuel more than 640 active wildfires to the north in Canada.
All it's taken to bring that smoke to the Midwest is a northeast wind.
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You could see it against the city skyline: Smoke from Canadian wildfires drifting over the border tanked the air quality for cities up and down Wisconsin.
At one point, Swiss-based IQAir had Beloit, Milwaukee and Green Bay as part of the top 10 cities with the worst air quality in the nation.
But it didn't stop people from getting outdoors.
Local perspective
Along the Oak Leaf Trail on Milwaukee's lakefront, Jon Boyd and his daughter Lucy, visiting from Chicago, said their bike ride feels a little different.
"I'm taking vacation days. Those are too precious to not be outside," he said. "Well, first of all, the view is not nearly as good. That's caught our attention, but the faster we ride – you know, I'm old enough to be a little short of breath in this."
And if this feels familiar, it is; the same problem happened in late June 2023, leading the City of Brookfield to have the worst air quality in the U.S.
Dig deeper
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre shows it's been another devastating year for fires. More than 15 million acres have already burned and of the 640-plus active fires there, a quarter of them are burning out of control.
The unhealthy air can cause coughing, wheezing, sore throats and itchy eyes for people without asthma or heart disease.
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It's only worse for those considered "sensitive."
That's why health experts are stressing caution for anyone spending time outside.
"Try to be in tune with yourself," Dr. Bill Hartman from UW Health said. "Do you feel palpitations? Are you getting short of breath? If these things are happening, that might indicate that there's an issue going on and you should probably seek help from a medical provider."
The Source
The information in this post was collected and produced by FOX6 News.
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