STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Although wildfire smoke hovering over New York City is expected to clear out before the end of Wednesday, it is possible that worse smoke conditions could find their way to the city this weekend.
“The haze that we’re seeing (Wednesday) will gradually give way to a bluer sky, so to speak, as the afternoon wears on,” Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather told the Advance/SILive.com.
While this smoke will pass, Kines says a shift in the winds could ultimately spell trouble for the city.
“There’s a lot of smoke upwind. Up across central Canada and even into eastern Canada, and you shift the wind into the northwest and it’s got to come down eventually,” added Kines.
Although this could result in some more smoke, the shift in winds could also provide some temporary relief from the heat.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the city is under an air quality health advisory, but not due to the smoke.
Kines clarified that the heat and lack of wind are responsible for the deterioration in air quality. Those poor air quality conditions are forecast to linger for a little while.
“I suspect that we’ll probably have to deal with it again tomorrow (Thursday); I don’t know about Friday,” Kines said.
Kines expects a front to bring some showers and maybe even a thunderstorm this weekend which should help the air quality in its own right. Once the winds shift, that will help conditions in the short term as well before smoke potentially finds its way down into the city.
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