Does the air look and smell differently today?  The wildfires from Western Canada are bringing smoke and haze to Vermont, with an air quality warning being issued through the day today.  You can see the haze and smoke near the ground, and smell a change too with a strong pine smell coming out of the air. With folks with conditions like Asthma, today will become very difficult to breath, especially when exercising.  Particles from the wildfire smoke are so small that they can get into your lungs and deeply seed themselves in there, making it harder than usual to breath, even if you have no prior history of respiratory issues.  Keep this in mind if you are headed out for a bike, hike or run today.  Dial it back a bit and plan for taking some extra time.  This is not the day for pushing yourself hard or trying to break that Strava mark you have been eyeing.  The last time the air quality was impacted like this in our region was in July of 2021, again caused by western wildfires.  Conditions in general have been very dry lately and we can certainly use some rain, which will also help clear out some of the haze and smoke in air.  

Location: A hazy Mt. Mansfield