Western wildfires have sent a thick plume of smoke and haze across much of the Northern Plains. Although much of this smoke stays aloft, filtering out the sun and dropping forecasted high temperatures by five degrees or more. Surface smoke is still affecting much of the region today( 9/11/24). Over the next couple of days haze and patchy surface smoke will continue.
Air quality across much of North Dakota is listed as Unhealthy for sensitive groups (orange) and unhealthy (red) for this Wednesday (9/11/24). I expected lessening smoke over the next couple of days but expect hazy skies and some patchy smoke still at the surface through the weekend. Surface smoke is not expected to be as bad tomorrow or Friday. As for the weekend, we will monitor how fires behave over the next couple of days to predict additional/new smoke plumes.
Meteorologist,
Justin Storm
