Smoke from Canadian wildfires is making Iowa’s air quality above the national standards that make it safe in parts of the state.
“About half the state is in the unhealthy category, and it’s expected to remain that way most of the day,” Todd Russell is with the Iowa DNR’s Air Quality Bureau says. The air levels are given colors, starting with green and then yellow, orange and up to red as the worst. “Particularly sensitive people, folks that have asthma, lung issues, heart issues, COPD would be considered sensitive groups who would probably be affected in the orange category. The red category is where they believe even some healthy people may be affected by air quality,” Russell says.
The central Iowa area around Des Moines has been in the red category today, while northern and parts of eastern Iowa are in the orange.
Russell says you can quickly find out what the air is like where you live, and where the smoke is coming from. “Airnow.gov…you can zoom out and show all the Canadian provinces and it appears at this time that all the smoke is due to Canadian fires in northwestern Canada,” Russell says.
Iowa has dropped out of the oppressive heat, and Russell says that is a factor in the wildfire smoke sticking over the state. “Best situations it either blows over us or it doesn’t come down. But when it hits the front or cooler air, it sinks, then it drags that smoke down towards the ground with it,” Russell says. “So that’s ‘s when smoke even a thousand miles away can affect us here in Iowa.”
He says most models don’t go out very far to let them know when the smoke might clear out, but there is some good news. “There is one actually Canadian model that goes 72 hours out. And it looks like we may, we may extend the current air quality alert through a portion or all of Saturday, ” he says, “but it does appear that Saturday the air should be getting better from the southern Iowa and then working its way north.”
Russell says most people with conditions impacted by the poor quality air know what to do to avoid issues.
