Wildfire Smoke, Poor Air Quality Lingers In Metro Detroit

METRO DETROIT — Air quality in the Metro Detroit region was among the worst in the world Wednesday morning, as smoke from wildfires burning hundreds of miles away in eastern Canada drifted farther down into the region overnight.

The Detroit area's air quality index was listed at 306 Wednesday morning, placing the city in the "hazardous" range, meaning the air is considered toxic, hazardous to everyone, according to AirNow.gov.

Officials encouraged groups sensitive to pollution - especially older adults with chronic heart or lung disease, children and asthmatics - to stay indoors and avoid breathing in smoke-filled air from the Canadian wildfires.

Meteorologists also encouraged people to "run central air conditioning with MERV-13 or higher rated filters," while avoiding activities that contribute to air pollution, like outdoor burning.

The smoke also significantly reduced visibility in metro Detroit, with some areas experiencing little-to-no visibility early Wednesday.

"These restrictions will persist until around 10 a.m. for much of southeast (Michigan). Motorists are urged to use caution and account for variable driving conditions," the agency said on Twitter.

An air quality alert for the metro Detroit region remained in placed Wednesday and could be extended into Thursday again for southeastern Michigan, as a low pressure over the eastern Great Lakes is causing the smoke to drift through northern Michigan, and across southern Wisconsin and Chicago, forecasters said.

Exposure to air pollutants from the wildfire smoke can cause headaches, irritated eyes and sinuses, fatigue, difficulty breathing, chest pains, asthma attacks, irritated throat and increased coughing, the weather service said.

Forecasters expect the air quality in the Detroit area to slightly improve Wednesday, fluctuating between "unhealthy" for sensitive groups to "unhealthy for everyone." The hazy skies could push other areas of the state, including the Upper Peninsula to be "very unhealthy" or "hazardous" for everyone, officials said.

Wildfires have been stretches of Canadian forests in the Ontario and Quebec provinces for weeks. There were 492 active wildfires burning throughout Canada as of Monday, with 259 are considered out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.