Canadian smoke makes Chicago's air among world's worst

Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada caused Chicago to have some of the worst air quality in the world on Tuesday.

The curtains of haze continued to raise air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region and in parts of the central and eastern United States.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov site showed parts of Illinois, lower Michigan and southern Wisconsin had the worst air quality in the U.S. on Tuesday afternoon, and Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee had air quality categorized as “very unhealthy.”

In Minnesota, a record 23rd air quality alert was issued Tuesday through late Wednesday night across much of the state. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy issued an air quality alert for the entire state. Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources also issued an air quality advisory for the state.

In Chicago, officials urged young people, older adults and residents with health issues to spend more time indoors.

Fires in northern Quebec and low pressure over the eastern Great Lakes are sending smoke through northern Michigan, and across southern Wisconsin and Chicago, said Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Jackson added that a north wind would push the smoke further south, moving into Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky later Tuesday and overnight.