Southeast Alaska has almost a full week of sunshine ahead, but those blue skies will be slightly dingy with smoke from wildfires in Canada.
Numerous fires are burning across British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and even as far away as Alberta. And they’re producing just enough smoke to start hazing up the skies in the panhandle — especially in the southern half, which contains Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan.
But Brian Bezenek, the lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau, says it’s nothing for Southeast Alaskans to worry about. A slight haze may be the worst of it — at least for now.
“If it persists for a long time, it may become an issue,” says Bezenek. “But right now, I think it’s more of just a high, thin layer of smoke coming in. Mainly what you’re seeing is the high particles — and unless you’re smelling the smoke, you’re probably not seeing a whole lot at the lower levels.
That’s all to say that Bezenek doesn’t expect that the smoke will affect air travel or inconvenience people in vulnerable groups — like the elderly, children, or those with certain medical conditions.
He says it’s still possible that Southeast Alaskans might get to enjoy a few smokeless and cloudless skies before the rains return. Bezenek predicts that the wave of smoke should abate after a big low pushes it out of the way before the weekend.
