Wildfire Smoke, Haze Return To NJ: What To Know

NEW JERSEY— Smoke and haze from Canada’s long-burning wildfires are prompting a new round of air quality alerts in New Jersey and elsewhere in North America.

The National Weather Service office in New York predicted hazy conditions for the immediate metro area including North Jersey, and the rest of the state is forecast to see air quality levels of about 65 on Monday.

This is within the “moderate” risk level for fine particulate matter, according to airnow.gov. The moderate category, which is shown in yellow on the map, includes AQI ranges between 51 and 100.

"The smoke is expected to remain above the surface, resulting in some hazy conditions, especially later this morning or afternoon," National Weather Service forecasters said.

The smoke and haze aren’t expected to obscure city skylines, as they did in June, but even moderate air quality levels can be unhealthy for those people who are extremely sensitive to these conditions. Tuesday will also see moderate air quality levels in most areas of the state, according to airnow.gov.

Early Monday, the worst air quality in the country was just off the East Coast, according to a visualization of the airnow.gov data by The New York Times. Most coastal areas from Florida to the Northeast had moderate air quality.

The "unhealthy for sensitive groups" AQI levels begin at 101, and residents around the state saw AQI values eclipse these numbers and soar into "very unhealthy" or even "hazardous" categories in late June and early July.

The Canada wildfire season started early this year, and above-average wildfire activity is expected to continue through October in some places. The United States has seen very little wildfire activity this year, although the potential for wildfires through October is above-average in parts of the Pacific Northwest, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and some Mid-Atlantic states.