ATLANTA — You probably noticed it as you stepped outside today - the air above metro Atlanta is awfully hazy.
That's because of Canadian wildfire smoke, which made headlines a few weeks ago when it blanketed New York City in a haze and has continued to cause air quality issues in the eastern U.S.
It wasn't as much of an issue in Atlanta last time it became prominent, but over the last couple days it has settled in over our region and become far more noticeable.
An orange air quality alert is in effect for Atlanta and the surrounding metro counties for Tuesday, July 18. It's set to expire at 6:30 p.m.
For an explanation of why it's exactly so smoky, 11Alive Meteorologist Melissa Nord details the science involved in the video player above this story and in the YouTube player below:
How long will the smoke stick around?
We'll have the highest concentration of smoke Monday, but with light winds will still encounter elevated smoke levels Tuesday.
Wildfire smoke creates filter for north Georgia sunrises, sunsets
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