Hazy Skies Due To Wildfire Smoke In The Hudson Valley

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Wildfire smoke is drifting through the region, and will continue doing so for at least a couple of days, the National Weather Service said.

"Lots of high level altitude haze in the sky from all the North American wildfires," Bruce Furbeck of First Due Weather said on Facebook.

The US government's fire and smoke map (above) shows how many directions and layers of smoke are high in the atmosphere above North America, primarily due to fires burning in Alaska, Canada, and the Rockies. There are 926 active fires in Canada alone, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

Canada's weather service offers a 72-hour model of the movement of ground-level smoke with particulate matter. This screenshot predicts the plume over the Hudson Valley as of 5 p.m. Friday.

There are moderately polluted conditions across New York State Wednesday, according to the daily air quality index.

Meanwhile, the cooler weather (cooler than June, for sure) may stay settled over the region for a while, AccuWeather meteorologists said. Highs and lows are down a few degrees from mid-July — when it was 2-4 degrees above the historical average.

Here's the five-day forecast based on New City:

Wednesday Afternoon
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. North wind around 6 mph.

Tonight
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 63. Calm wind.

Thursday
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Sunny, with a high near 86. Light north wind.

Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 65. Calm wind.

Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon.

Friday Night
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69.

Saturday
A 40 percent chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80.

Saturday Night
A chance of showers before 8pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 8pm and 2am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2am. Cloudy, with a low around 69. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Sunday
A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Sunday Night
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. Chance of precipitation is 60%.