Northwestern Canada’s burning. So is the southeastern United States. The smoke from these fires is showing up on satellite imagery across the Upper Midwest, New York, and Pennsylvania. Massachusetts is next in line for this atmospheric gift that nobody asked for.
Upper level winds are playing delivery service over the next few days, pushing smoke plumes straight toward New England. Wednesday and Thursday, the sky’s going to look like someone smeared it with brown paint.
Upper level winds turn delivery service, shipping smoke plumes straight to New England for Wednesday and Thursday.
Western and northern New England will get the worst of it, but everyone’s going to notice the sun looking a bit… tired. Red sunsets are likely due to the smoke particles scattering light in the atmosphere.
Here’s the kicker – this smoke party’s arriving just as Massachusetts faces its hottest, most uncomfortable weather of the season. Temperatures are expected to hit close to 90 degrees on Thursday. Because why not pile on the misery?
Boston’s air quality was “good” on Tuesday. Past tense. The smoke’s mostly staying aloft in southern New England, but some of it might decide to visit ground level.
Minnesota’s already dealing with serious air quality problems, and that’s where this mess started.
The timing’s perfect, really. The 2025 State of the Air report just revealed that Boston-Worcester-Providence’s air quality has gone from bad to worse.
Worcester County dropped from a B to a C grade for particle pollution. The region ranks second-worst in the Northeast for year-round particle pollution and sits among the three worst for ozone pollution.
This isn’t just about hazy Instagram photos. Air pollution causes premature deaths, asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, and lung cancer.
It’s making kids wheeze and outdoor workers sick. It’s linked to low birth weight in babies and cognitive problems later in life.
The Boston metro area ranks 61st-worst nationally for high ozone days. That’s out of 228 metro areas. Not exactly a trophy worth displaying.
References
- https://www.heraldnews.com/story/weather/2025/06/04/wildfire-smoke-map-what-to-expect-in-massachusetts/84024950007/
- https://phys.org/news/2025-06-wildfire-hazy-skies-massachusetts-air.html
- https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/canadian-wildfire-air-quality-boston/
- https://www.lung.org/media/press-releases/ma-sota-25
- https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/report-wildfire-smoke-worsening-eastern-mass-air-quality/3694413/
