Wildfire Air Quality

[EBuff75]

Well, the air quality here in the Detroit area is headed into the toilet, due to smoke from the wildfires in northern Minnesota and Canada.  At 300, AQI measurements are considered "hazardous".   Currently it's 309 where I live.  There were some measurements over 1000 in the Upper Peninsula earlier today and there were pictures of things like the Mackinac Bridge where the smoke was so dense that you couldn't even see the towers from the shore.  

I've got my a/c running, so that the filter can get as much out as possible.  On top of that, I actually have a very good air purifier in my bedroom that should help me sleep tonight.  In my office, which is at the far end of the house away from the furnace (and where the badly-sealed attic access door is), I can feel some tightness / burning in my throat.  

The next few days are going to suck, big time.  I'll keep my rescue inhaler ready and will definitely mask up if I have to go out.  My car does have a cabin air filter that should help too, particularly if I keep it set on recirc.  

https://abcnews.com/US/canadian-wildfire-smoke-descends-us-spreading-great-lakes/story?id=134774391
https://www.freep.com/story/weather/2026/07/15/air-quality-alert-michigan-today/90926290007/

[majorhavoc]

I'm in southern Maine, about 10 miles from the coast.  I was walking in the woods on Tuesday and I noticed that the spots where sunlight filtered through the trees all the way to the ground had a distinct orange hue.  As in - the ground itself had an orange tint.  I'd never seen anything like that before.  I pride myself on staying current on news events, but somehow I had missed any reports about wildfires.  Still, my two working theories about why the world was turning orange where: 1) Canadian wildfires that I just hadn't heard about or 2) the alien mothership had just entered the atmosphere and was taking up station to nuke Boston. 

I settled on the Canadian wildfire theory.

[EBuff75]

As of this morning, Detroit officially has the worst air quality of any large city on the planet!  The AQI is currently around 460 for Detroit, although there are readings which are much higher in some areas.  To keep some of the crud out of my house, I taped up the cracks around my attic door last night, which should help (the attic isn't sealed and air can get in through the vents).  I'm surprisingly okay this morning, but will be heading out for a corporate event later today.

Right now, everything outside is yellowish and hazy.  Just for extra funzies, our local NWS radar is offline and there were issues with satellite coverage for our area as well.  Fortunately, no severe weather events are in the forecast (other than the smoke) for a few days.  That will give them some time to get things repaired and working again. 

Good news for me, my HVAC filter is a MERV 13 / MPR 2200, which means that it should capture most of the crud.  Not sure about the one in my car.  It's activated carbon / baking soda impregnated to remove odors as well as capturing dust / dirt, but I couldn't find the details on what sort of particulate rating it has.  It's well overdue for another replacement, but it's a gigantic pain in the ass to replace (dealers charge over $300 last time I checked) that requires disassembling half of the passenger footwell area to access it.  Probably ought to do anyway... *sigh*

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/07/16/detroit-michigan-air-quality-wildfire-smoke/90940049007/

ETA:  Finally found the info on the car cabin air filter.  It filters down to 5 microns, which is around a MERV 8.  Not great, but better than nothing.

[Uomo Senza Nome]

We are well out of the path of the smoke fallout this time but it hasn't always been the case. During a banner allergy season this year I purchased a filtration system for our bedroom that also provides the current air quality. It normally keeps the room AQI in single digits. I sleep worlds better with it running. 

460 is hazardous and should be avoided.  On the official scale from 0 to 500, anything over 300 is an emergency condition where the entire population is likely to experience severe health effects. Wearing an N95 mask is highly recommended. 

[EBuff75]

Yep.  I only went outside very briefly yesterday (dropped something off with a neighbor and one trip to pick up lunch, during which I wore a mask).  Between the high quality air purifier in my bedroom and the good filter on my furnace, the indoor air quality here is pretty good. 

The air purifier is a Blueair 311 with an air quality monitor that ramps the fan up when it senses particulates.  It's sensitive enough that cooking (on another floor, opposite side of house) will frequently cause it to speed up, as will using spray cleaners in the upstairs bathroom.  It's also helped quite a bit with my seasonal allergies. 

ETA:  Yeah, the numbers here are still pretty bad.  Glad I'm not in Three Oaks, MI though - 941!!!

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/07/17/wildfire-smoke-michigan-air-quality-canada-minnesota/90953270007/ 

[Uomo Senza Nome]

Those videos remind of my service time in Western Iraq during the war when a big dust storm would come through shutting everything down. 

[echo83]

Everything has cleared up where I am in Massachusetts, but TUE 14 JUL and WED 15 JUL were dark enough that my car headlights auto switched on at 10:00 a.m. 

WED 15 JUL was the worst of it. Everything had a weird yellow or orange tint to it, and my backyard solar lights didn't get enough sunlight to come on at night. 

One strange thing is that there was a dry wood smell like when you first step into a sauna, but not a wildfire smell. On a side note, while I've never bought into the whole seasonal affective disorder thing, I had a weird feeling of unease for those 2 days. 

I'll be travelling through Montreal and Toronto for most of next week. Should be interesting. 

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Regarding the smell, we had a small wildfire in my AO last week and it made my whole town smell like mesquite smoked BBQ.

Cause of the local fire was a truck on the highway having an engine fire and catching the grass on fire. Burned about 4 acres according to the local FD.

[Anianna]

We hit an AQI of 201 today, a record for the Richmond, VA area.  My house is old, so the outside is inside and my eyes have been stinging all day and there's a light smoke smell all over.  The air purifiers can only do so much.  I just checked and the AQI is sitting at 153 as I type this.  We're supposed to drop back down to moderate (<100) tomorrow, thankfully.  

[slipkid42]

Here in PA it was real bad yesterday, today a bit better but still real hazy and smoke smelling.

[Anianna]

Apparently, I am a honeybee.  The more I smell smoke, the more I want to eat.