Vibrant, Smoke-enhanced Sunrises and Sunsets Forecast

Wildfire smoke creates a hazy sky and beautiful sunset over Eagle Harbor. Photo by Elisa Sweet.

The hazy days hanging around the peninsula lately are caused by some of the worst wildfires in history that West Coast states are battling.

“The dense, continuous smoke from the wildfires out west made its way into the upper atmosphere, where upper-level winds have pushed it east across the country and even out over the Atlantic Ocean,” said Craig Czarnecki, public-information specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Air Program. “The smoke remains high in the atmosphere and is not expected to impact air quality in Wisconsin.”

The air quality has been listed as “good” in Door County since Monday, according to the DNR’s air-quality monitoring website (airquality.wi.gov/home/map).

To compare Wisconsin’s current good air quality with the poor or even hazardous air quality out west, look at the AirNow fire and smoke map at fire.airnow.gov.

“You’ll notice that while a layer of smoke has spread across the U.S., the poor air quality from the forest fires only goes as far east as Montana, while air quality remains good across the eastern half of the country,” Czarnecki said.

Wisconsin skies will continue to have hazy, vibrant sunrises and sunsets for the next few days, according to the DNR.