Raging Canadian wildfires trigger 'significant smoke event' into Dakotas, Upper Midwest

BISMARCK, N.D. – Extreme wildfires burning in Canada and prompting evacuations are now impacting the U.S., as the smoke drifts southward into areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin in the Upper Midwest.

More than 160 wildfires across Canada have burned more than 1.6 million acres. Fast-moving fires across Saskatchewan and Manitoba triggered evacuations this week.

The fires in Manitoba prompted provincial officials to issue a state of emergency.

HOW IS AIR QUALITY MEASURED?

"This is the largest evacuation in many Manitobans’ living memory, and this will require significant resources and co-operation from all levels of government," Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said. "I have spoken with the prime minister, and we have asked for the support of the Canadian Armed Forces in transporting evacuees. There are hundreds of people who are mobilized to get you to safety and provide help. This is what Manitobans do, and we will get through this." 

The FOX Forecast Center is tracking smoke across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes through the weekend. 

The thickest smoke was smothering the Dakotas early Saturday morning. Air quality was listed as "hazardous" – the worst level on the air quality scale – in Minot, North Dakota, and was in the "very unhealthy" category across Bismarck, according to AirNow.gov. 

Air quality improved slightly later in the morning to just "unhealthy" levels.

"There is high confidence in air quality impacts through Monday evening," said forecasters with the NWS in Grand Forks. "This could be a significant smoke event, resulting in impacts for all populations, as well as visibility to a half mile."

Wildfire smoke will continue to drift over cities including Duluth and Minneapolis in Minnesota and Green Bay and Milwaukee in Wisconsin. 

Air quality alerts are in effect for parts of the Upper Midwest, including all of Minnesota and parts of Michigan and its Upper Peninsula.

The air quality in the Arrowhead of Minnesota is forecast to reach red, or unhealthy, on the air quality index.

While the thickest smoke is expected to concentrate over the Dakotas and Minnesota, hazy skies will spread south into Iowa and Missouri Saturday, with more elevated smoke drifting over the Middle Mississippi Valley and into the Ohio and Tennessee valleys through the weekend.  

Not like 2023

The situation this week will be less hazardous than what Canada and the northern U.S. experienced nearly two years ago during a devastating Canadian wildfire season. 

In June 2023, the wildfires in Canada turned the skies across the Northeast orange and reduced air quality to hazardous – the most extreme rating on the air quality index – for major cities, including New York City, Philadelphia and Washington. The dramatic scene made Manhattan look like a Martian landscape.

However, this likely won’t be the last wildfire smoke from Canada to reach the U.S. this year. Canada’s wildfire season is most active from May through September.