Canadian wildfire smoke could be on its way again to Michigan — but nothing like last year

It sounds like a sequel to a bad movie — Canadian wildfire smoke clouding Michigan's skies again.

A change in weather patterns over the Great Lakes region is setting up conditions that could push smoke from Canadian wildfires into Michigan — a problem that plagued the state for weeks at multiple times last summer, as Canada endured its worst wildfire season on record by far. But what's coming over the next few days — if anything at all — should be mild compared with 2023, said Brian Cromwell, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in White Lake.

"We are not expecting similar to what we saw last year, where it was very obvious there was a large amount of smoke in our air," he said. "We are not anticipating impacts that large again."

The weather pattern that brought rain to Michigan on Tuesday is being followed by a high-pressure system that is bringing winds into the state from the north and northwest — which means the potential for carrying in wildfire smoke at one of the most active times of the summer for wildfires in Canada.

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But the forecast winds over Michigan are only expected at between 5 and 10 mph, and Cromwell noted the most significant wildfires happening in Canada at the moment are well to the west, in places like Alberta, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories.

"We wouldn't expect smoke from those fires to reach our region from this weather system," he said.

AirNow.gov , the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's site for monitoring air quality assisted by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, forecast for Wednesday moderate levels of the soot-like particles of smoke, particulate matter 2.5 microns in size or less, known as PM 2.5. Under that condition, air quality regulators recommend those unusually sensitive to particle pollution consider reducing activity levels and shorten the amount of time they are active outdoors. Air quality is expected to remain in the moderate category heading into the weekend.

A major factor in the smoke problems of last summer around Detroit — weather conditions that kept Canadian wildfire smoke trapped in the area for days — shouldn't be a factor this time around, Cromwell said.

"It looks like our winds are going to move to southerly starting around Friday and Saturday," he said.

Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Canadian wildfire smoke could be on its way again to Michigan — but nothing like last year