Wildfire smoke to bring poor air quality, limited visibility to Northern Illinois

Wildfire smoke will filter in from the North overnight, bringing limited visibility and poor air quality to the region tomorrow. Below is a view from some of the smoke overtop of downtown Minneapolis Wednesday evening. Smoke locally may not quite get this dense, but we could see a similar picture locally tomorrow. Visibility across parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin was limited to below 5 miles, with some of the smoke reaching toward the surface.

Air quality has been significantly limited within the areas under the most dense wildfire smoke. The air quality index in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota has reached the "unhealthy" category as of 6PM Wednesday, and some of this will shift Southward overnight into Thursday. You can check the current and forecast air quality here: https://gispub.epa.gov/airnow/

Wildfire smoke will shift into our region following the exit of the rain and clouds tonight. Smoke could get trapped under the incoming high pressure, which may keep some of the smoke and haze around the area through at least Thursday and into Friday. Limited air quality could be a concern both days, so unfortunately even though temperatures will be comfortable enough to open windows, smoke and haze may be too thick to open windows at least for a couple days.