The smoke has cleared… but it’s not going to last long

Area residents had a chance to catch their breath Friday afternoon, July 17, 2026, as a wind shift caused the smoke from Canada wild fires to blow back north, but it’s not going to last.

While not forecast to be quite as bad as the last couple days, the smoke will be back later Saturday evening as the wind shifts back to coming from a more northerly direction. The only saving grace will be a forecasted lake breeze that looks to keep the smoke slightly at bay. If that lake breeze doesn’t materialize, conditions could get as bad as they were mid week.

At this time there is no air quality alert for the area but KFIZ will continue to monitor the situation and report any weather related headlines issued by the National Weather Service.