People with lung diseases found it harder to breathe in Toledo as wildfire smoke crept back into the Midwest on Monday night.
“The air is heavier to them, they have a cough, they experience shortness of breath,” said Dr. James Tita, a pulmonologist at Mercy Health.
The smoke is coming from wildfires in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and parts of western Canada, said Dan Smith, a local meteorologist at WTVG-TV, Channel 13. According to Canada’s National Wildland Fire Situation Report, last updated on June 21, there are 330 active fires, 78 uncontrolled.
By hitchhiking on the wind, that smoke journeyed to the Midwest.
Mr. Smith said to picture a big swirl of wind centered right over the Great Lakes. Late Monday, that system picked up wildfire smoke from Canada and swirled it around toward western Michigan, with some funneling into the Toledo area.
The worst of the smoke was set to appear late Tuesday evening and gradually clear out on Wednesday, Mr. Smith said. People can expect a “filtered, hazy sunshine,” similar to a few weeks ago.
From there, the wind will likely swirl the smoke around parts of the East Coast.
As of Tuesday, western Michigan had some of the worst air quality indices in the country, exceeding ratings over 250, considered “very unhealthy.” Meanwhile, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments issued an air quality alert through Wednesday.
Since Ohio’s air issues vary widely by region, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency does not anticipate issuing a statewide air quality advisory, said James Lee, the department’s media relations manager.
For example, as of Tuesday evening, Toledo peaked at an air quality index of 136, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups, while Columbus and Cincinnati hit air quality indices over 150 — which is unhealthy for all people.
Dr. Tita said people’s symptoms will depend on the concentration of smoke and duration of exposure.
Common particulates in wildfire smoke are carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. At a size 2.5 microns or smaller, smoke pollutants can build up in the lungs, leading to irritation and inflammation of the small airways.
“When people breathe in these pollutants, it can impair an individual’s ability to exchange oxygen effectively and can lead to shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, cough, and even respiratory failure,” Dr. Brian Kaminski, vice president of medical affairs at ProMedica, said.
Dr. Kaminski added that some of ProMedica’s emergency department physicians have seen an increased number of patients recently experiencing flare-ups of chronic respiratory disorders such as asthma.
Dr. Tita urged those people with pre-existing conditions to wear N95 masks, close their windows, stay inside, and avoid strenuous work.
As for the rest of the summer, Mr. Smith said it depends on where wildfires happen to pop up. With weather patterns interconnected with each other across the globe, “sometimes we just have to take our turn,” he said, quipping that New York City looked more like the surface of Mars a few weeks ago.
The good news is that in parts of Canada, the air is not as dry as it was a few weeks ago. With thousands of acres burning at once, the rain typical of summer storms may help clear out the fire, where firefighters may not otherwise be able to, Mr. Smith explained.
“You hopefully can do battle against those wildfires and not only help save the environment in places like Quebec and Nova Scotia,” Mr. Smith said. “But you can also help spare us from the wildfire smoke in the process.”
Rain can sometimes also bring smoke out of the sky and clean the air, Mr. Smith said, though it will largely depend on wind from the larger pressure system to drive the smoke out.
In this case, the holiday weekend’s forecasted humidity, rain, and thunderstorms won’t appear until most of the smoke has already been blown out.
First Published June 27, 2023, 11:39 p.m.
