Wildfire Smoke Keeps Air Quality Poor in Indiana

STATEWIDE –Poor air quality continues across much of Indiana today as smoke from Canadian wildfires lingers over the state.

The Indianapolis Office of Sustainability has declared a No Action Day, and officials are urging people, especially those in sensitive groups, to limit time outdoors.

National Weather Service forecaster Jason Puma says the haze is being carried south by winds from Canada.

“A lot of this is due to the Canadian wildfires and the northerly flow that’s been allowing some of that smoke to come down into our region,” Puma said.

The smoke has pushed much of central Indiana into the unhealthy for sensitive groups category. Puma says people with asthma, heart disease or other respiratory conditions could have trouble breathing, and even healthy people may notice the effects.

“They may have difficulty breathing. They may have difficulty doing outdoor activities that they may be normally OK to do because they’re having trouble with the air quality,” Puma said. “Try to remain indoors today and limit your outdoor activities that could cause problems if you go outside and try to exert yourself too much.”

Relief is on the way as a cold front moves through the state tonight.

“Tonight a cold front will be going through. That’s going to bring us a little bit of an improvement for tomorrow,” Puma said. “When we do get a change of an air mass, that will often help shuffle or push away that dirty air and allow us to get into a cleaner air mass with better air quality.”

Puma says showers and thunderstorms are expected late tonight into tomorrow morning, helping improve conditions.

“Late tonight and early tomorrow morning, we’ll see showers and thunderstorms. With that, we’ll rinse out the air a little bit and get a new air mass into the area behind the front,” he said.

Air quality across central Indiana is expected to improve to the moderate category Tuesday. However, Puma says smoky skies could return later this summer.

“As long as there are fires burning in Canada, we can expect to see this kind of pattern from time to time. Haze and smoke will continue to be a concern when the winds bring that smoke into Indiana.”