Wildfires out west causing haze in Mid-Missouri

If you’ve been keeping your eyes to the skies, you may have noticed an increase in haze on the horizon.

Many in Mid-Missouri have said the sky resembles the sun on fire, but there’s a perfectly good explanation for what is going on.

Wildfires have been burning in portions of the Northwest and Canada for the last several days and it’s smoke from these fires that is impacting our weather here in Mid-Missouri.

How can wildfires from more than 1,000 miles away be impacting our weather here?

As of late, we’ve been talking about a cold front tracking through the Midwest and bringing with it a chance for scattered showers and storms.

On the backside of the front, winds at the surface and aloft have been out of the northwest and have been quite gusty at times. It’s these winds that are pulling in smoke from the wildfires and blanketing the sky in a milky gray color.

We can’t really smell the smoke as it is more than 10,000 feet above the surface of the earth, but it’s still giving the sky a strange look.

With northwesterly winds to continue for the next two days it’s possible to still see some haze on the horizon before it clears out. Another concern is for those who have sensitive allergies with smoke particles in the atmosphere. The air quality for parts of Missouri is in the moderate range, which means those with respiratory conditions should take it easy.