Canada wildfires: Will smoke reach Long Island?

The smoke plume streaming down from Canadian wildfires will cause hazy conditions in the Great Lakes region and the southeastern states, but largely miss Long Island, weather and environmental officials say.

Dozens of fires have been burning out of control in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba over the last week.

So far, the smoke from the fires has drifted down through parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, where the Environmental Protection Agency has declared the air quality unsafe for people and animals sensitive to air pollution in some locations.

Over the week, the smoke continued to drift down into the lower states in the Southeast, worsening air quality in those areas.

The mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states, including New York and Long Island, won't see the kind of orange haze that hovered over the area two years ago, when Canadian wildfires burned out of control in all the provinces across the Great White North, officials say.

State authorities will be monitoring the air quality for changes.

“Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) expert meteorologists are currently tracking smoke from wildfires in western Canada, but do not anticipate that Air Quality Index (AQI) levels for smoke-enhanced fine particulate matter pollution will reach levels that would trigger an Air Quality Health Advisory,” agency spokeswoman Dana Ferine said in an email. “DEC continues to closely monitor conditions and will update the forecast as needed.”

New York City and Long Island may see moderate air quality index values, the spokeswoman said.  That means air quality is acceptable, but "there may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution," according to AirNow, a government clearinghouse for air quality information.

The remainder of the state will be clear, Ferine said.