Air quality across the Eastern US continues to degrade as smoke from wildfires raging in Eastern Canada pours into the Lower 48.

The aforementioned smoke is clearly visible via satellite loop with the heaviest concentration over Eastern Pennsylvania, Western New York, and into New Jersey and the NYC area.

In these regions, visibility is down to only a few miles or, in some cases, about a single mile. Pictures being posted from these places, including my hometown of Wilkes-Barre, PA, look like something out of a movie set in a post-apocalyptic era.

Air quality for much of the Eastern US is at least in the moderate category. Once we narrow it down to the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic and lower Northeast, it quickly moves into the Unhealthy to Hazardous range.

Some may wonder: how is smoke from Canadian wildfires able to make it this far south, especially since winds tend to blow west to east (generally) in the mid-latitudes?

The answer: our amplified synoptic pattern.

The counter-clockwise flow around a sprawling area of low pressure parked near New England is directing the smoke from fires in Ontario and Quebec southward into the Eastern US.

It remains most concentrated closer to the source of the fires which means that bigger cities like Buffalo, Rochester, Philadelphia, New York City, and even Washington DC (to a degree) are taking the brunt of it. This unfortunately results in a very densely populated part of the country dealing with air quality that is simply hazardous.

The synoptic pattern will remain stagnant into the weekend. A blocking ridge over much of Canada will keep temperatures warm and allow for very little beneficial precipitation in the places that need it most. Additionally, troughing will remain parked over the Northeast. So, it stands to reason that smoke will continue to be advected into the Eastern US through the remainder of the week. And, as the trough shifts slightly west over the next couple days, so too will the heaviest concentration of smoke.

Expect smoky skies and poor air quality to persist through the weekend. As the pattern begins to finally shift a little over the weekend, so too will the direction of the smoke. But for now, use extreme caution in any outdoor activities – especially if you’re under the thicker plumes of smoke!