Posted: Saturday, June 7, 2025, 8:20 AM
Expires: Saturday, June 7, 2025, 12:00 Noon
Air quality levels this morning are highly variable across the Finger Lakes.
To the east, where rain has still been falling this morning, the air quality is still healthy.
However, further west, the stripe of poor air quality lagging just behind the front has settled in.
As I explained yesterday, I have been watching this feature all week as it has slowly progressed eastward from the Midwest and through the Great Lakes.
The rising pressures and lack of wind immediately behind the front is compressing the wildfire smoke that has been lingering down into a shallow near-surface layer. It isn’t that there is more smoke, only that is it being packed down into a smaller area right at the surface.
Orange and Red levels of the Air Quality Index (AQI) are being observed throughout the western Finger Lakes. Red classification represents AQI values over 150 and are considered unhealthy for everyone.
Air quality should decrease across the southeastern Finger Lakes this morning as this area slowly moves southeastward. A gradual improvement will occur further north and west as northwest winds start to increase, mixing up the atmosphere and spreading the smoke over a broader vertical area above the surface.
Given the speed which this area is moving, I suspect that areas further southeast may hold onto moderate to poor air quality into and possibly through the afternoon.
I’ll have another update around noon with the latest trends.
As a reminder, you can get the latest air quality map at fire.airnow.gov. Use this link to automatically zoom to our area: https://fire.airnow.gov/#7.8/42.729/-76.38
Susan Mattingly
Thank you so very much for this information. It matters to me.