Air quality briefly gets better Friday afternoon then smoke returns this weekend

Historic is really the only way to describe the levels of wildfire smoke and terrible air quality the state of Wisconsin has been experiencing the last 36 hours. Smoke rolled in Wednesday evening with air quality levels staying in the hazardous category all day long Thursday and now into Friday morning. As of 8 AM Friday morning, the Air Quality Index (AQI) for southeast Wisconsin remains in the hazardous category between 300-500.

Improving air quality is expected by Friday afternoon as the smoke starts to leave us. The wildfire smoke will clear across Wisconsin from west to east as the wind shifts to the southwest. Some smoke may linger in some of our lakeside and northern counties through Friday afternoon but by Friday evening we may get a total break from the smoke. 

The warmth will return for the end of the week with highs on Friday and Saturday returning to the upper 80s. A drop in temps is still expected for Sunday in the low 80s with middle 80s returning next week. 

After lower humidity on Thursday, sticky dew points return Friday and Saturday getting close to or even over 70 degrees and pushing them into the tropical category. A drop in humidity is expected for Sunday. 

Heat index values on Friday and Saturday will fall short of Heat Advisory criteria but stay hot with most of us feeling like the 90s or even close to 100 degrees. Sunday will see the feels like temps stay close to the actual air temperatures in the lower 80s. 

Unfortunately, another round of smoke returns to southern Wisconsin during the weekend. Any outdoor plans should be ok Saturday morning locally but if your weekend travels take you up north smoke arrives there by Saturday evening. For southeast Wisconsin that next round of smoke rolls in Saturday evening and could linger most of the day Sunday. 

Download the CBS 58 Weather app to track the smoke and air quality alerts. 

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