By Zack Hill
The air in Boone was hazy Tuesday, but not from the heat (yet).
Smoke from wildfires in Canada has drifted slowly south and is now stretching across the state. In the Appalachian Mountains above 4,000 feet, a Code Orange air quality alert is in effect advising older adults, young children, pregnant women and those with heart, lung and asthma issues to stay inside or use a mask or face covering when outdoors.
Most of the state is under either Orange or Yellow air quality alerts. The alerts are issued by the North Carolina Division of Air Quality.
The effects of the smoke are combining with high O-zone levels near the ground as well as other pollutants and emissions to create air that is unusually inundated with potentially harmful particles.
Most of the Canadian fires are in the provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia. Canada is having an awful beginning to the wildfire season with more than 6.7 million acres already burnt.
North Carolina certainly isn’t the only state being affected. Air quality alerts have popped up from Wisconsin to Georgia and with an incoming cold front to N.C.’s north that may push even more smoke in our direction, it will likely be a few more days until it clears.
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