BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The overwhelming majority of air quality alerts happen between June and August in the Lehigh Valley.
But on Friday, much of the region is under a Code Orange alert with expected sunny skies, temperatures warming into the mid 80s and light winds from the west and southwest, bringing wildfire smoke into the area.
The alert covers:
- The Philadelphia Area, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties
- The Lehigh Valley and Berks County area, which includes the counties of Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties
- The Susquehanna Valley Area, which includes Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties
A Code Orange alert means the air is expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as young children and older adults with respiratory conditions.
According to the federal government’s AirNow website, people with heart and lung disease are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air.
AirNow is a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control and tribal, state and local air quality agencies.
It uses a color-coded index designed to communicate whether air quality is healthy or unhealthy in more than 500 cities across the country.
According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, wildfire smoke aloft dimmed the sunshine slightly for much of the area on Thursday and is expected to continue pushing eastward Friday.
“Some of the smoke may be mixed down closer to the surface, resulting in concentrations of fine particulate matter to climb into mid-moderate range on average for the day,” the DEP forecast said.
According to data from the USDA Forest Service and the National Interagency Fire Center, there were 78 fires across the country on Thursday. That included 1 large incident and four uncontained large fires.
Those fires were burning in national forests and preserves in Florida, and another in national forests in North Carolina.
The fires in Florida were described as wind-driven, with structures threatened and area and trail closures in effect. The fires in North Carolina were described as smoldering, with numerous structures threatened.
Other fires were also burning in the Coronado National Forest located in Arizona, and in New Mexico.
