Wildfire smoke from the Northwest sweeps across the US to Mid-Atlantic and Southeast
A sprawling plume of wildfire smoke will paint hazy skies from the Northwest to the Mid-Atlantic and as far south as the Southeast.
Rowe Creek Complex Fire sends massive smoke plume over Central Oregon
A massive smoke plume blankets the Oregon sky as the Rowe Creek Complex has grown to more than 200,000 acres after being sparked by lightning earlier this month.
Wildfire smoke is once again spreading far beyond the flames, with hazy skies and air quality concerns pushing east from the Northwest into the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and even parts of the Southeast as the jet stream carries the plume across the country.
LIGHTNING-SPARKED WILDFIRES RAGE ACROSS OREGON AND WASHINGTON AFTER MID-JULY SEVERE STORMS
Critical fire weather conditions have fueled explosive wildfire growth across the Pacific Northwest and Northern Great Basin, where dozens of large fires continue to burn in Oregon and Washington.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the Northwest is currently battling more than 30 large active fires that have collectively consumed nearly one million acres. The majority of them are in Oregon alone.
Smoke from the fires will continue to degrade air quality across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and perhaps as far east as North Dakota.
Boise, Idaho, has been under consistently degrading air quality, staying firmly in the very unhealthy category.
Wildfire smoke from the Northwest is once again stretching across much of the U.S., bringing hazy skies from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic and even parts of the Southeast. As large wildfires continue to burn across the Northwest, smoke is riding the jet stream thousands of miles east, creating air quality concerns closer to the fires while painting milky skies and vivid sunrises and sunsets farther downwind. (Akawa Butte Fire)
Much of the worst smoke is confined to Oregon and Idaho, spreading into Montana and the Dakotas. This is where the smoke is reaching near-surface levels.
Over the coming days, the smoke will begin to shift back toward the east, but nowhere near the levels experienced a couple of weeks ago with the Canadian wildfires.
This time around, the smoke is expected to stay higher in the atmosphere because there are no nearby weather systems to push it down to the ground, limiting its impact on the air people breathe.
But that doesn't mean the smoke will be impact-free.
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Moderate air quality issues are still possible across parts of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, but conditions are not expected to approach the hazardous levels seen in recent days.
Even where air quality remains relatively good, wildfire smoke will still create hazy skies well beyond the Northwest.
The smoke, lingering 20,000 to 40,000 feet above the ground, is expected to spread as far east as the Mid-Atlantic and as far south as the Southeast as it circulates around a sprawling heat dome over the central U.S.
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While the elevated smoke isn't expected to significantly affect air quality at the surface, it will give the sky a milky appearance and could lead to more vivid sunrises and sunsets.