Smoke from Canadian wildfires in Ontario has made its way to Grand Forks.
Residents who looked up at the sky on Tuesday morning saw smoke in the sky, but there is no immediate risk to locals.
WDAY Chief Meteorologist John Wheeler said the smoke isn’t something to be worried about, but that some people should take precautions when considering staying outside for long periods of time.
“I think there is a bit of an air quality issue, but I don’t think it’s going to last very long” Wheeler said. “I think we'll have enough wind switches here in the next couple of days that things should disperse a bit, so if this were going to be settling in for three days that would be pretty bad. I think for the most part for most people it's not a big issue, but I think people with who are already compromised with respiratory issues should probably consider staying inside and air conditioning if possible.”
Wheeler said tracking wildfire smoke and predicting where it will go is not an exact science, but that Grand Forks residents should not be worried about it being here to stay. He said the smoke should begin to disperse some time tonight.
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“It’s not just as simple with smoke is going outside and seeing what direction the winds coming from,” Wheeler said. “You have to follow the stream from which that comes, so smoke may originate in one place blow at different levels of the atmosphere. It may blow in one direction for a while and another action then another direction, and it gets moved around the different layers of the atmosphere, and then it finally reaches you.”
