A statewide Air Quality Alert has now been extended into Sunday with another wave of wildfire smoke from Minnesota and Canada expected to push back into Michigan later today.
Michigan had been dealing with heavy wildfire smoke for days until a wind shift Friday night started clearing the air across much of the state. The new batch of smoke will be noticeable, but air pollution levels across the Lower Peninsula are not expected to be as bad as the heavy smoke days were earlier this week.
Canadian wildfire smoke created hazy scenes and smells of campfire along Lake Michigan on Thursday, July 16, 2026. A dense smoke advisory was issued from Grand Haven to Whitehall until Friday evening. This marked Michigan’s worst air quality day since tracking began in the early 2000s.
Here are the highlights, according to Michigan’s MiAir website:
Saturday: Air Quality Alerts remain in effect for the Upper Peninsula and northern half of the Lower Peninsula. The Southern Lower Peninsula has been downgraded to Moderate (AQI Yellow) and the Alert discontinued.
Sunday: A statewide Air Quality Alert will be in effect. Pollutants are expected to range between Unhealthy (AQI Red) in the Upper Peninsula to USG (AQI Orange) in the Lower Peninsula.
On Saturday, “Conditions will stay mostly the same throughout the day, although, the passing of a front will cause some fresh smoke to invade the state. Fortunately, latest model results have reduced the level of severity we can expect from that fresh smoke,” according to today’s update from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
“During Sunday, the changing winds from the passing front will lead to another statewide Alert, albeit not as severe as originally anticipated. The Upper Peninsula will remain Unhealthy and entire Lower Peninsula will be USG.”
Some form of alert is likely to continue on Monday, too.
A plumes of smoke from the Camp Fire hang in the air over Moose Lake as multiple wildfires burn in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Anthony Souffle/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)Anthony Souffle/Minnesota Star T
Michigan Had World’s Worst Air Pollution This Week
On Friday, areas of Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois had the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website, the Associated Press reported.
The plumes of smoke are pouring in from wildfires burning in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness – which had to be closed by the U.S. Forest Service and evacuated earlier this week – and several areas in Canada.
“The source of the smoke is going to continue on for certainly a week, probably,” said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service based in Maryland. “It’s just going to depend upon which way the wind’s blowing as to where the smoke is going to affect the most.”
All this smoke is likely to last for a while. While Oravec said there could be some pockets of relief, the fires are expected to continue to blaze.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks in front of a live map of smoke movement during a press conference updating media on ongoing forest fires in Ontario, in Toronto, Friday, July 17, 2026. (Cole Burston /The Canadian Press via AP)Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
