JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.# Poor air quality warnings have been## posted in the upper Midwest advising# people with heart or lung disease,## older adults and pregnant people to# limit outdoor activities.

The reason## is wildfires burning in western Canada,# some of them hundreds of miles away.

Meteorologists say that this weekend# the smoke and the fine particulate## matter it carries could reach# Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas.## Chris Foltz is a National Weather Service# Central Region fire weather program manager.

CHRIS FOLTZ, National Weather Service:# The smoke is being lofted into the air## and with the weather pattern that's in place# right now, we've got an area of low pressure## basically just east of Hudson Bay over the# Great Lakes, which is bringing that air south.

We also have a ridge of high pressure over the# Western U.S. which is kind of helping to funnel## that smoke from Canada down through the northern# plains and into the middle Mississippi Valley.

JOHN YANG: Earlier I spoke with Matthew Cappucci,## meteorologist at MyRadar.

I asked him# about the health risks from the smoke.

MATTHEW CAPPUCCI, Senior Meteorologist, MyRadar:# Well, there are two things I think folks are most## likely noticing.

Number one, anytime you have this# fine particulate matter, we call it.. at ground level, that's dangerous for elderly# vulnerable populations.

That's a big concern## over parts of the upper Midwest, obviously# Canada, where the wildfires are originating,## but across North Dakota, across much of# Minnesota, the entire state of Minnesota## under an air quality alert right now, which will# likely be pushed into early next week, parts of## Michigan north of Chicago and in Wisconsin, a lot# of folks of the upper Midwest and Great Lakes.

Now, when the smoke is up high, causing changes# to the light, it's harmless.

But down near the## surface, when we're breathing it in, it's really# bad.

It's like if you were sitting next to a## campfire and breathing that in, you wouldn't want# to do that.

If I were in North Dakota right now,## I'd be turning off my air conditioning and# only circulating the air inside my home.

JOHN YANG: So the danger and the threat is the## same hundreds of miles away as if# you were sitting next to that fire.

MATTHEW CAPPUCCI: Yeah, most definitely.# Unless we're really ventilating the atmosphere,## taking what's down low and sort# of diffusing it higher aloft,## then we still have those high concentrations# at the surface.

We're seeing over 200 on the## air quality scale.

Anything over 50 is bad, but# over 200 in parts of North Dakota right now.

And my fear is that as these fires continue# to burn, we're just adding more smoke to the## atmosphere and it can surf these jet stream# winds in the upper atmosphere down over North## America.

You know, back in 2023, we saw the# smoke reach all the way down to New York City,## turning the skies orange as far south# as like Tennessee Valley.

I don't think,## at least initially, it will# get that bad farther south,## but still over the northern tier, we could# see some very high end impacts with this.

JOHN YANG: And talk a little bit about the air## quality index.

What does it# take to trigger an advisory?

MATTHEW CAPPUCCI: It all has to do with# the concentrations of how much of that## particulate matter is in the atmosphere.

The# denser the concentrations, the higher the## number goes.

Anytime I'm seeing numbers around# 200, that's the point where you can smell and## you can taste the smoke in the air.

Your eyes# might start to sting, your throat might hurt a## little bit.

And especially for those vulnerable# populations, it's a really significant hazard.

JOHN YANG: You talked about# turning off the air conditioning,## that ventilation could bring it into your house.

MATTHEW CAPPUCCI: Yeah, anything folks can do# to eliminate essentially outside air coming## in is what I would really recommend.

We hate# to say it, but those N95 masks from the COVID## era could come in handy because once again, the# smoke is made up of these fine little particulates## that you don't want to be breathing in.

If you# have to go outside in the affected areas, that's## a really good thing to sort of put one protective# layer between you and the air you're breathing in.

JOHN YANG: And once again, just to remind# people, when there's an air quality advisory,## are there particular people who# need to be especially careful?

MATTHEW CAPPUCCI: Anybody# with preexisting conditions,## the elderly, those with respiratory# conditions, underlying conditions,## children especially vulnerable to infants,# babies, and then sort of after everyone else,## middle aged folks too.

But, but really, you# know, when the air quality gets as bad as it## is over parts of the Northern plains in the upper# Midwest right now, that's dangerous for anybody.

JOHN YANG: What are Canadian officials# saying about how significant these fires are?

MATTHEW CAPPUCCI: They're sort of sounding the# alarm, they're sort of peaking their scales right## now.

For example, Alberta and Ontario are under# an extreme risk of wildfires.

That's verbiage## rarely used by Environment Canada.

That's the# equivalent up there of the National Weather## Service in the U.S. and to sort of max out,# the scale says this is a higher end event.

Likewise, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire# center has drawn up a level five out of five.## They're basically saying all systems# go in terms of combating and fighting## these fires.

They're allocating# all the resources they have to.

When they sort of max out these scales,# that's a sign of a really significant## event underway.

And we're still so early in# the summer.

We're just getting into June now.## This is something we more typically# see later into June, into early July.## So I do fear this could be another bad# fire season for our neighbors to the north.

And one thing we're noting,# you know, with climate change,## we're seeing sort of a tendency for these# heat domes, these blocking bridges of hot,## high pressure to last a little longer, be a# little stronger, be a little bigger and more## stubborn.

And that's sort of tilting# the scales to higher end fire events.

JOHN YANG: Matthew Cappucci of# MyRadar, thank you very much.

MATTHEW CAPPUCCI: Thank you.