How wildfire smoke travels to Illinois

In July Wildfires burned across Canada and Minnesota which has sent smoke across the great lakes. This has caused poor air quality last month in Illinois, potentially creating health risks.

We’re no stranger to wildfires in the U.S. In fact we average around 70 thousand wildfires each year. According to experts one of the leading causes of wildfires is climate change.

Associate Professor in the Department of Climate, Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Deanna Hence,  Illinois Climatologist for the Prairie Research Institute, Trent Ford and Professor in the Department of Climate, Meteorology, and Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois, Deanna Hence.

Partial funding for Weather Realness is provided by the Backlund Charitable Trust. If you want to ask a local scientist a question on the program, please leave a voicemail at 217.333.2141 or email weatherrealness@illinois.edu.