Wind could carry smoke from the massive California fires all the way across the nation, reaching as far as Dallas and Virginia, The Dallas Morning News has reported.
However, National Weather Service meteorologist Lamont Bain said that even if the smoke does come this far east, "it should disperse as it carries. You might see some light haze, but we’re not putting anything about it in the [weather] forecast.”
Last week, Michigan Radio reported that smoke from the California fires reached the Great Lakes state.
National Weather Service meteorologist Sara Pampreen explained that “Smoke gets so high up in the air and the jet stream takes it up and it’s actually positioned right over” Michigan.
She said it's not actually unusual for smoke from major wildfires out west to reach the Great Lakes region, but said the smoke will move out due to changing weather fronts.
Since the fires broke out two weeks ago, cities in the Sacramento Valley and Bay Area have had some of the dirtiest air in the world, with The Los Angeles Times reporting that since last Thursday air quality-monitoring networks have registered those areas with air even dirtier than the notoriously most smog-filled cities in India and China.
According to the Times, the wildfires in California have killed at least 77 people, with more than 1,000 missing, as well as burning hundreds of thousands of acres and destroying thousands of homes.
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