Wildfire smoke, poor air quality linger through early Friday

 [10:45PM] Rockford's AQI (air quality index) is now up to 508. This is WELL into the "hazardous" category. Highly consider avoiding time outdoors if possible and wearing a mask if you must be out. Even healthy individuals can be seriously affected by smoke this dense. Little change expected through the night, but conditions will rapidly improve by midday Friday.

[9:45PM] Air quality is really, really poor across the area. Rockford is now reporting an AQI of 384, well into the "hazardous" category. Spend as little time outdoors as possible and wear a mask if you must be out. Air quality may not improve much until midday tomorrow.

[9PM] Dense wildfire smoke has pushed as far West as Eastern Jo Daviess, Carroll, and Whiteside Counties. Air quality has degraded to "unhealthy" for the majority of the area with an AQI of 187 in Rockford as of 9PM.

[7:40PM] Wildfire smoke is moving back into Rockford with air quality deteriorating to the "unhealthy" and "very unhealthy" categories once again.

[6:45PM] Air quality is dropping again for our Eastern Counties as a lake breeze pushes in. This will bring the dense wildfire smoke back West through the evening and possibly overnight as well. Current air quality is already degrading quickly across DeKalb, McHenry, and Walworth (WI) Counties, with some AQI back above 200+, placing much of the area East of I-39 under "very unhealthy" or "hazardous" categories.

Wildfire smoke and poor air quality have remained through the course of the day but have shown gradual improvement this afternoon. As of 5PM, the AQI (Air Quality Index) is down to 130 in Rockford, down from 250+ around midday. The worst of that smoke has been on the Eastern side of a lake breeze, which may begin to push back inland over the course of the evening. This will temporarily bring more dense smoke back toward the I-39 corridor through the early part of the night.

Along that lake breeze, a few isolated showers and thunderstorms have developed. Any storm that does form will not last very long in any given location. Coverage of showers and storms will remain limited to the lake breeze, indicating those a county or two East or West of the I-39 corridor may likely stay dry. Storms will diminish after sunset.

As the lake breeze pushes inland tonight, air quality will remain limited. At least patchy smoke remains in place through midday Friday before lifting back North out of the area. Later afternoon and evening of Friday will bring significant improvements from the smokey conditions. The Air Quality Alert now remains in effect through Friday for much of the area, with the exception of Carroll and Whiteside Counties.

While conditions will improve greatly Friday, another round of smoke may be possible Saturday. A passing cold front could draw some wildfire smoke back this direction, but I do not expect it to be nearly as dense as the last round. A few isolated storms may be possible along that cold front as well.