Skies over portions of North and central Georgia are a shade darker Friday because of wildfires that started many miles away in Canada.
The light smoke will move south through Georgia and is expected to clear Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
“The rain tomorrow will make it dissipate,” NWS meteorologist Carmen Hernandez said.
The air quality in Atlanta is at a “moderate” reading, according to the U.S. Air Quality Index. A moderate, or yellow, rating is the second-best level of air quality and is not uncommon for the city.
Some Georgians still may want to take precautions.
“If you are unusually sensitive to particle pollution, consider reducing your activity level or shorten the amount of time you are active outdoors," the air quality website said.
Atlanta’s air quality reading reached its worst point of the week Thursday evening, when it crept up briefly to the classification designated as “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” The air quality returned to a moderate level within an hour, according to the monitoring site.
Rain will come in Saturday with strong gusts up to 60 mph to disperse the smoke, according to the NWS. The far northwest corner of Georgia, including Rome and Dalton, is under a Level 1 of 5 risk for severe thunderstorms from 1 to 10 p.m., the Weather Service said.
Canadian wildfires have pushed smoke to the Upper Midwest and Northeast U.S. this summer in what has become a reoccurring issue.
And in April, South Georgia experienced wildfires that burned thousands of acres and extended a veil of smoke of that stretched to Atlanta.
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