For the past week you might have noticed some extra haze in the sky. 

Weatherology Meteorologist Paul Trambley tells Raccoon Valley Radio that it’s due to the wildfires from the western United States. However, he says Iowa usually sees the haziness from the Canadian wildfires, but due to the historic amounts of wildfires currently happening, the smoke has carried across the country, even to parts of Maine.

“The jetstream has been kind of in an orientation which has been transporting this smoke – which can get 10,000-25,000 feet up into the atmosphere – with that smoke plume over the western U.S. Obviously the prevailing winds aloft will continue to push that smoke plume eastward, just because of how much fire activity there is this year. It’s quite a thick smoke plume, so it doesn’t disperse as much as you would probably expect in a normal fire season.”

Trambley tells Raccoon Valley Radio he has never seen this much wildfire activity contribute to such a long and sustaining smoke plume. However, he doesn’t expect Iowans to worry about air quality being impacted by smoke and haze. Trambley anticipates the smoke to dissipate within the next couple of days, which would cause less haze in Iowa’s skies.