LANSING, MI — Lansing-area residents are under air quality alerts, which means outdoor air can irritate the lungs, eyes and throat and poses greater risk to children, older adults, pregnant women and people with asthma or heart disease.
Wildfire smoke drifting south from Canada and northern Minnesota pushed a statewide alert into mid-Michigan on Thursday, with statewide forecasters warning that fine-particle pollution around Lansing could climb into a range considered hazardous for the general public.
The alert, issued by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, runs through Thursday and could be extended into Friday.
State air quality meteorologists forecast that fine particulate pollution would reach the “Unhealthy” level — coded red on the federal Air Quality Index — across the Lower Peninsula on Thursday, with “Very Unhealthy” conditions in the Upper Peninsula. Forecasters said some hourly readings statewide could briefly spike into the “Hazardous” range.
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