Unrelenting smoke drifting down from almost 1,000 Canadian wildfires triggered air quality alerts over vast sections of the U.S. and was expected to last through Tuesday, forecasters warned Monday.
The National Weather Service forecast said Canadian wildfire smoke will “remain in the picture” through Tuesday as winds sweeping down from the Canadian Prairies continue to funnel more smoke into the northern High Plains, the Midwest, Great Lakes, central Tennessee, North Carolina and into the Northeast.
“Smoke concentrations should diminish over parts of the heartland on Tuesday but may still cause poor air quality along the East Coast,” meteorologist Peter Mullinax wrote.
In Cleveland, the Air Quality Index reached 159 early Monday, putting the city’s air solidly in the unhealthy red zone. Chicago at 154 and Pittsburgh at 151 were not much better and Indianapolis was at an unhealthy 143 .
Over 80 million Americans facing heat notices
The smoke warning comes as more than 80 million Americans faced heat-related weather notices Monday morning. Triple digit temperatures were set to impact residents from Texas to California, the weather service said.
Heat advisories, watches and warnings have impacted nearly 100 million people, or almost a third of Americans, over the past 30 days as summer temperatures kick in across the country. Temperatures in some desert areas were predicted to soar past 120 degrees during the day and remain in the 90s overnight. This week, forecasted temperatures in the Southwest range up to 100-110 degrees, even reaching 115 in parts of California, Nevada and Arizona.
“Recordbreaking heat is expected each day through mid-week in the Four Corners states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico) from Texas to the Lower Mississippi Valley, and South Florida,” Mullinax wrote. “Daytime highs will routinely reside in the triple digits in the Desert Southwest and deep in the heart of Texas.”
Heat advisories, excessive heat warnings and excessive heat watches were in place in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida
Northeast could see more flooding
High moisture in the air combined with a slow-moving cold front from the West will cause heavy showers and storms in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, according to the National Weather Service. The soil in the Northeast is already highly saturated with water following heavy flooding in Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont last week, according to the National Weather Service. This increases the risk of flash flooding in those areas.
The Weather Prediction Center (WPC) has issued a moderate risk of flash flooding for the New England area. Residents should be cautious of impassable roadways, overflowing creaks and possible mudslides. States from Virginia to Maine are all included in the slight risk area. High winds may also increase the risk of tornadoes.
Bucks County, Pennsylvania, flooding leaves 5 dead, 2 missing
At least five people died and a 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister were missing after they were swept away by fast-rising floodwaters on a Pennsylvania road on Saturday, officials said.
“It’s very possible” there could be more victims, Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck told the Bucks County Courier Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.
More rain in the Great Plains
The Southern and central high Plains as well as the middle and lower Mississippi Valley will see showers and thunderstorms into Monday morning, resulting in a slight risk of flash flooding. There is also a risk of hail in central Kansas.
US weather watches and warnings
National weather radar
Contributing: Jo Ciavaglia, Michele Haddon, Liam Price, J. Staas Haught; the Associated Press
