Winds push smoke from Canadian wildfires south into US and worsen air quality

Air quality in some parts of the United States is worsening as smoke from dozens of wildfires in Canada travels south, pushed by winds high in the atmosphere.

Through parts of Minnesota and into Wisconsin, the air quality is deemed unhealthy for people and animals sensitive to pollution and other airborne particles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow page.

As of Friday afternoon, the interactive air quality map showed a strip of orange moving northwest to southeast across Wisconsin. Most of the state showed moderate air quality as did all of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois also showed moderate air quality on the AirNow map.

Over the next day or so, particulates from the burning trees, leaves and other vegetation could reach further south into Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas, said Patrick Ayd, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth, Minnesota.

Murray Kinsey, owner of a houseboat company just outside of Babbitt, Minnesota, said Friday afternoon the sky was “hazy," but anglers still were fishing on nearby Birch Lake.

“It's getting a little hard to breathe,” Kinsey said. “But it's not terrible. We've had it before, but it's been way worse.”

The Air Quality Index — AQI — measures how clean or polluted the air we breathe is on a daily basis. The index focuses on the health effects that might be experienced within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air.

AQI is calculated based on ground-level ozone, particle pollution or particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Ground-level ozone and airborne particles are the two pollutants that pose the greatest threat to human health in this country.

The index ranges from green, where the air quality is satisfactory and air pollution poses little or no risk, to maroon, which is considered hazardous. That level comes with health warnings of emergency conditions where everyone is more likely to be affected, according to AirNow.

On Friday morning, the AQI showed orange around the Arrowhead, Minnesota, area, which Ayd said is a concern for people with chronic conditions, the elderly and young children. “They really should limit their time outdoors,” he added.

The path of the orange zone moved further south and southeast throughout Friday afternoon.

The level below orange is yellow and considered moderate, where the air quality is acceptable. That is what maps showed Friday for some other parts of the Midwest.

Any smoke from the Canadian wildfires may run into scattered thunderstorms forecast for Friday evening in the Chicago area.

“It looks like the smoke is moving in behind the cold front,” NWS meteorologist Zachary Yack said. Most of the smoke is “thinning behind the front,” he said.

But fine particle levels are expected to reach the red air quality index in northern Minnesota, a level that is unsafe for everyone, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality said it is monitoring air quality levels and advised individuals to limit prolonged outdoor activities.

To limit exposure to unhealthy air quality, people should stay indoors with windows and doors closed. Avoid heavy exertion outdoors, using fans or swamp coolers that take air from outside, all wood-burning appliances, and lighting candles and incense.

Nearly two dozens wildfires were burning in the Canadian province of Manitoba, which is just north of Minnesota and North Dakota. So far this year, the province had had more than 100 wildfires.

On Wednesday, Manitoba declared a state of emergency as the fires forced 17,000 people to evacuate homes in several communities.

Canada’s wildfire season runs May through September. Its worst-ever wildfire season was in 2023. It choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months.

“We are getting the smoke,” said Kevin Doom, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chicago. “The winds way up in the atmosphere — 10,000, 20,000 feet up — are blowing in from the north today. Minnesota is kind of taking the brunt at the moment.”

“The wind is going to drag that smoke down over the next day or two,” Doom added.

Doom said a little haze was showing Friday morning over Chicago.

“It will keep moving with the wind,” he continued. “But over time, it will continue to disperse, mix in with the air until it gets thinner and thinner until it fades away.”

Last summer, fires burning in California, Oregon, Arizona, Washington state and other parts of the West, as well as Canada, filled the skies with smoke and haze, forcing some affected areas to declare air quality alerts or advisories.

Two years ago, smoky air from wildfires in Canada also shrouded broad swaths of the U.S. and prompted warnings for people to stay inside.

Williams reported from Detroit. Raza reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Sherridon, Manitoba, Canada, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)

This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Wanless, Manitoba, Canada, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)

This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Sherridon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)

This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Wanless, Manitoba, Canada on Thursday, May 29, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)

This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)