A much clearer, mostly sunny sky emerged Thursday, with elevated haze masking some of the sun’s intensity, but we’re not quite done with the smoke yet. Most of the heaviest smoke is passing through the interior Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this afternoon, with much of New England and Boston on the fringe of the thicker haze.
Boston, and as you head southwest, should see a bit more smoke in the sky during the afternoon and evening, but it won’t be as bad as the apocalyptic scenes we saw on Wednesday. Still, air quality has worsened over Western Massachusetts and Connecticut over the past couple of hours, as warnings remain in place across the region.
By mid-morning Friday, the smoke plume should dive south of New England and there may be some light haze, but the yellowish-brown, sun-blocking smoke should be over, and the sunshine returns.
Meanwhile, air quality alerts remain in effect for much of the region today, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. It’s a good idea to keep windows closed through the rest of Thursday, especially if you live across Southern New England.
How hot will it get Thursday?
Once again, we’re in an atmospheric predicament in locking down the forecast highs. Thursday’s highs are a bit easier to zero in on, with highs likely ranging from 85 to 89 across Greater Boston. It’ll come down to how thick the smoke is during peak heating in the afternoon. Wednesday was forecast to hit 90, but ended up with a high of 84.
Wildfire smoke is an aerosol and captures a lot of the sunlight, trapping the heat and preventing the intense, peak-summer sun angle from warming up the surface. This keeps the air a touch cooler but stagnant, allowing for smoke to sink closer to the ground.
Our dew points should wind up below 60 degrees, keeping the humidity level feeling comfortable throughout the entire region on Thursday.
Scattered light showers move in, some potent thunderstorms up north
In terms of precipitation, we’re going to see a little sliver of energy dive south through New England, sparking scattered showers and thunderstorms across Northern New England during the afternoon and reaching the Boston area by the evening. A couple of storms up north may bring strong wind gusts, especially across portions of Maine and New Hampshire.
Some areas will stay dry, but Boston could get clipped with a light shower during the commute home. Regardless, you may only see a few raindrops for those of you caught in the showers across Southern New England.
Tracking the air quality
Air quality in the Boston area is expected to remain “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” meaning the smoke concentrations have reached and in some cases exceeded levels that are not safe for people with asthma, lung or heart diseases, children, and the elderly.
Here’s the latest air quality in the region:
Where did the wildfire smoke come from?
A series of wildfires has exploded in recent weeks in Canada (about 800 active fires as of today) and in northern Minnesota (18 active fires) due to extremely dry conditions and the intense heat. The fires create their own localized areas of rising, hot air, and when that smoke reaches the jet stream, the plume is carried off and travels very quickly downstream along a path that heads right over New England. The smoke is impacting millions of residents from the Great Lakes region,
Canada is now seeing an above-average amount of burning acreage, currently pacing the third largest on record, behind the epic 2023 and 2025 seasons.
This is how Downtown Boston looked on Wednesday morning:
The images of Boston shrouded in a veil of heavy smoke were reminiscent of the last two summers, when New England was hit with heavy wildfire smoke that severely impacted air quality. Those episodes lasted at least two to three days. New England usually sees 10 to 20 wildfire smoke days per year, an increase in the last several decades, according to Climate Central. It varies widely across the six states and is almost entirely dependent on how close the Canadian wildfires are.
Still, as our climate changes, hotter temperatures across North America have doubled the number of wildfire days across the U.S. and our neighbor over the past two decades. Unfortunately, with a growing El Niño set to bring more heat across Canada during the later stages of summer and into fall, we may see a few more rounds of smoke over the next couple of months.
How to protect yourself
You can smell it. You can taste it. Wildfire smoke contains many pollutants and soot. You can stay safe from this smoke by wearing an N95 mask, closing windows and doors, and running your air conditioner in circulation mode if possible.
Wildfire smoke can be quite the irritant to your throat and respiratory system. This heavy smoke includes soot particles that are invisible products of combustion generated by large and numerous fires. They penetrate your system through the lungs and directly enter the bloodstream. The fine particles, known as PM2.5 and a small fraction of a single hair, can pose health problems and easily put stress on the body even for those who do not have any existing notable conditions.
“Up to 80 percent of wildfire smoke particles can infiltrate buildings, which can cause reduced air quality, even inside homes,” said Shichao Liu, a professor of environmental and architectural engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Albert Simeoni, head of WPI’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering, said there are a significant amount of gases generated from wildfires, “such as ozone, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and diverse aromatic compounds, but the particulates are the main risk, and they travel far. All these particulates and gases have health effects.”
Thursday breakdown
Greater Boston: Hazy and warm, highs to the mid-80s. A bit breezy. A spot shower late.
Central/Western Mass.: Hazy and warm, highs to the low 80s in Berkshires, mid to upper 80s east. Breezy with a spot shower chance.
Southeastern Mass.: Hazy skies with temperatures held to the low and mid-80s. A bit breezy.
Cape Cod and the islands: Hazy skies with temperatures held to the mid-70s. A bit breezy.
Rhode Island: hazy with highs pushing the upper 80s. A spot shower chance late. Breezy.
New Hampshire: Mix of sun and clouds, some haze. Highs to the upper 80s south, low 80s north. Afternoon showers and thunderstorms.
Vermont/Maine: Mix of sun and clouds, some haze. Highs to the upper 80s south, low 80s north. Afternoon showers and thunderstorms, especially in Maine.
Connecticut: Very hazy, highs to the upper 80s. Scattered showers late, breezy.
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Ken Mahan can be reached at ken.mahan@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @kenmahantheweatherman.