Extreme smoke has likely peaked in the northeast for now

The worst of the smoke from wildfires is likely to be over for millions of people in the Northeast after two days of orange-tinted skies and the smell of burning forests filling the air. But according to an analysis of atmospheric computer models in the New York Times, the smoke may remain dense in other parts of the region at least through Friday.

Poor air quality peaked late Wednesday or early Thursday in some of the Northeast’s most populous cities, and conditions have steadily improved in places like New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Instead of a concentrated mass of thick smoke billowing into some of the most populous urban regions, the plume of Canadian wildfires became more widespread Thursday, spreading haze to the Deep South.

A swath of more concentrated smoke still hung over parts of the Mid-Atlantic from Virginia to New Jersey on Thursday afternoon, with forecast models showing it to continue through the evening. And New York could see some smoke returning, blown back from the Atlantic Ocean by the sea breeze. But conditions in the city were likely to improve Friday and stay that way, National Weather Service forecasters said.

By the time the sun rises Friday morning, forecasters expect it to lose much of its reddish hue — caused by light scattering from wildfire smoke — over much of the Northeast, though a swath of the Washington region through western Pennsylvania still remains. what gloom can experience during the day.

Forecasters said they hope air quality will continue to improve as the weekend progresses, with a new weather pattern blowing Canadian smoke elsewhere — though it’s hard to predict exactly where. Anticipating smoke patterns is more difficult than some other forms of weather forecasting, in part because the amount of smoke produced by wildfires is difficult to predict.

That means that the current air quality forecast can change quickly. The New York Times follows it here.

Christopher Mag reporting contributed.