Caden Perry
Don't the Milwaukee skies look too clear for an air quality alert?
Yes and no. Your eyes aren't fooling you, the skies are clear Wednesday, June 3. Canadian wildfires are not at a level where smoke is carried across the Midwest yet.
But the air is still poor quality. The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert June 3 morning, the first one in 2026. An uncommon set of weather conditions is actually trapping ozone on the ground level we breathe in.
Normally, ozone emissions rise higher into the atmosphere. A layer of warm, slow air is holding those emissions down in what National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Sheppard described as a subsidence inversion pattern.
Ozone is highly toxic to the respiratory system and the American Lung Association describes it akin to a sunburn for your lungs. It forms in a reaction between nitrogen oxide and sunlight.
Milwaukee has an abundance of sunlight June 3 with sunny skies expected to persist all day Wednesday and Thursday, June 4.
Strung all together, industrial nitrous oxide is reacting to ample sunlight but the ozone byproduct isn't leaving our breathing air like it should.
Canada wildfires still too far away from Wisconsin for smoke concerns
It's tough to call out smoke forecasts very far in advance. Even if wildfires in Canada get to the abundant levels, the smoke might never affect Wisconsin if the weather doesn't carry the smoke to the area.
According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there are only a handful of wildfires near the Wisconsin border, and most are being held back as of June 3 morning.
The biggest threat for smoky conditions in Wisconsin are two Ontario wildfires considered "out of control," one east of Lake Nipigon and another east of Thunder Bay.
With winds moving especially slow in Wisconsin, it is highly unlikely the smoke will carry over to any part of the state.
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