Active Weather Alerts
Air Quality Alert
Issued: 2:20 PM Jul. 16, 2026 – National Weather Service
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued an Air Quality Advisory for the following counties: Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jefferson, Kenosha, Lafayette, Marquette, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Rock, Sauk, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha. WHAT...The PM2.5 AQI is expected to reach the Unhealthy (Red) to Hazardous (Maroon) level. WHERE...Statewide. WHEN...Until noon Friday. Precautionary/Preparedness Actions: Sensitive groups: Stay indoors and keep activity levels light. Follow tips for keeping particle levels low indoors. People with asthma: Follow your asthma action plan and keep quick-relief medicine handy. People with heart disease: Symptoms such as palpitations, shortness of breath, or unusual fatigue may indicate a serious problem. If you have any of these, contact your health care provider. Everyone: Avoid all physical activity outdoors. Additional Details: As of 7 a.m. Thursday morning, widespread Very Unhealthy (Purple) to Hazardous (Maroon) AQI PM2.5 is being observed nearly statewide. Surface analysis at 4 a.m. placed the boundary from approximately Prairie du Chien to Platteville, with cleaner air to the south and west of this boundary in portions of Grant, Lafayette, and Crawford Counties. Although this boundary may meander to the northeast from roughly 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and bring cleaner air further into far southwest Wisconsin, the boundary is then likely to sag back southwest overnight into Friday morning. We then expect to see clearing of the smoke from west to east throughout the day on Friday as southerly winds pick up ahead of an approaching system. Given this setup, we are going to extend the statewide air quality advisory until noon Friday. At that time, it will be possible that we will extend the advisory once again for eastern areas, especially those impacted by Lake Michigan. It is also possible that areas along Lake Superior will see prolonged smoke impacts and need to remain in the advisory. However, we expect to remove much of the state from the advisory area at that time for this first round of smoke. For more information on current air quality, please see: https://airquality.wi.gov
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