Florida hit by Canadian smoke from historic wildfire season
More than 69,000 square miles have been burned by wildfire in Canada so far. Some 795 wildfires were still burning as of Tuesday afternoon.
A cloud of Canadian wildfire smoke smothered most of the Sunshine State in haze Tuesday, adding Florida to a list of U.S. states affected by a historic season of flames up north.
“I have lived in Florida for going on about 20 years and this is the first time I can remember seeing such a thick blanket of smoke,” said Will Ulrich, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida. “For the past 24 hours, we’ve seen milky white, very hazy conditions across the peninsula.”
Air quality in some parts of the state hit “unhealthy” levels and the air carried a mild scent, Ulrich said. Visibility was also diminished.
