Wisconsin’s air quality is back to normal, but as long as the wildfires burn in eastern Canada, there’s potential for that smoke to come here.
National reports say Canada is going through its most destructive start to wildfire season, with an area larger than the Netherlands already burnt.
And you’ve seen it over the past few weeks — a haze in the sky from the wildfire smoke. Wisconsin has been on and off with air advisories this spring because of the polluting particles that come with the haze. It turns out that these air advisories this time of year are abnormal, according to Craig Czarnecki, outreach coordinator with the Wisconsin DNR’s Air Management Program.
“This is certainly a very unusual spring,” he says. “We really haven’t issued a PM2.5 advisory in spring since 2011. So it’s been over 10 years since we’ve had wildfire smoke impacts like this in the spring. Typically, we see wildfire smoke impacts later in the summer.”
The term particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) refers to tiny particles in the air.
Czarnecki says the tiny particles in the smoky haze can harm people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children. When there is an air advisory, he recommends those groups avoid prolonged or heavy exertion, while everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion. He reminds us that livestock and pets are affected similarly.
“Animals need to breathe just like we do, so they can also experience respiratory ailments and inflammation from smoky conditions, too,” he says, recommending farmers provide plenty of fresh water and limit the physical activity of their animals.
See a fact sheet from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on wildfire smoke and livestock: https://www.airnow.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/protect-your-large-animals-and-livestock-from-wildfire-smoke.pdf
Learn more about Wisconsin’s air quality: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/AirQuality
See Wisconsin’s air quality map: https://airquality.wi.gov/home/map
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