Smoke from Canadian wildfires creates unhealthy conditions from Montana to Ohio

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has posted air quality alerts for several states stretching from Montana to Ohio because of smoke blowing in from Canadian wildfires. The National Weather Service said Sunday that “air quality alerts are in place for much of the Great Lakes, Midwest, and northern High Plains … due to the lingering thick concentration of Canadian wildfire smoke over these regions.” It says the concentration of smoke in the atmosphere should begin to wain by Monday. The U.S. EPA’s AirNow air quality page rated the air in Chicago as “unhealthy” Sunday morning. And in Michigan, state environmental officials said the air “is unhealthy for sensitive groups.”