Chicago's air quality has improved, but experts caution ongoing wildfires, wind can change conditions
<p>The air quality in Chicago has improved after days of unhealthy conditions due to smoke from Canadian wildfires — but the area isn’t entirely out of the woods. </p><p>As <a class="Link" href="https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/en/" target="_blank" >nearly 900 wildfires</a> continue to burn throughout Canada, experts say the fires and weather patterns like wind direction may change the local air quality going forward.
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<p>The air quality in Chicago has improved after days of unhealthy conditions due to smoke from Canadian wildfires — but the area isn’t entirely out of the woods. </p><p>As <a class="Link" href="https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/en/" target="_blank" >nearly 900 wildfires</a> continue to burn throughout Canada, experts say the fires and weather patterns like wind direction may change the local air quality going forward. </p><p>"Based on the wildfire episodes our city has experienced in the summers of 2023, 2025, and this year, residents should expect periods of changing air quality, depending on Canadian and U.S. West Coast wildfire activity and weather patterns," said Serap Erdal, associate professor at the University of Illinois Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences School of Public Health.</p><p></p><p>Late last week, Chicago’s Air Quality Index ranged from very unhealthy to hazardous, the two most severe levels on the Air Quality Index.
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- <p>The air quality in Chicago has improved after days of unhealthy conditions due to smoke from Canadian wildfires — but the area isn’t entirely out of the woods. </p><p>As <a class="Link" href="https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/en/" target="_blank" >nearly 900 wildfires</a> continue to burn throughout Canada, experts say the fires and weather patterns like wind direction may change the local air quality going forward.
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Chicago's air quality has improved, but experts caution ongoing wildfires, wind can change conditions
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