Sisak of the Associated Press contributed to this report. Jennifer Peltz, Rob Gillies and Michael R. The low pressure area over the East Coast will move out as we head through this weekend. This comes with a change in wind direction that we think will clear out a majority of the smoke.Īs of Thursday afternoon, it looks like air quality this weekend will improve to moderate, which is safe. This week, it looks like a wind pattern shift is likely to occur first. To end the smoky haze over the tri-state area, one of two things needs to happen. Either the fires get put out, or the wind patterns shift and blow the smoke away from us. Road closed due to crash on I-26 Westbound from Exit 11 NC-213 Carl Eller Rd to Exit 9 US-19. In a world without traffic lights, one reigns supreme. Chicago quietly moves over a dozen speed cameras to new locations. I-57 inbound lanes reopen at Halsted after semi rollover crash.

By morning, the haze may still be there, but it’s less severe. Large car fire on I-55 causes morning rush hour backup. The atmosphere stabilizes and vertical mixing ceases as temperatures cool overnight, allowing the smoke to partly dissipate. To fill the void, colder air aloft mixes down to the surface and takes its place. A vertical circulation develops that is a very common phenomenon, but when there’s smoke lingering above, it gets mixes down to ground level, too. That’s a big reason why concentrations of smoke are worse in the afternoon and evening.

Much of the wildfire smoke is carried in the wind flow aloft, several thousand feet up. During the day, as temperatures climb, the atmosphere becomes unstable. Pockets of warm, buoyant surface air begin to lift through the atmosphere – much like a hot air balloon rises. The smoke has been a problem since Tuesday, but you may have noticed it to be worse in the afternoon and evening compared to the early morning hours. It isn’t your imagination, it’s a real thing.

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