Skies were quick to turn hazy late Tuesday afternoon as a strong cold front brought smoke from wildfires in Canada down into the Midwest and Great Lakes. Wildfires have been burning in western Canada for a while, with numerous fires considered ‘out of control’. As the front continues to pass through the Stateline this will help clear out some of the smoke overnight.

An upper-level ridge of high pressure moving in Wednesday will limit the amount of smoke in the skies during the day, but we could see that increase Thursday as a trough of low pressure moves in from Canada. This will turn our winds in the jet stream back to the northwest, allowing the smoke to get caught up in the fast-moving winds.

Most of the smoke will remain in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere, but it will help to filter out the sunshine. This will cause a little more of a pink/orange look to both the sunrise and sunset. Another cold front coming in Friday morning and shifting jet stream pattern should clear out the smoke and haze going into the weekend.