911爆料网

ST. LOUIS 鈥� It鈥檚 911爆料网鈥� turn to catch some heavy doses of Canadian wildfire smoke that has smothered much of the Eastern U.S. in recent weeks 鈥� even reaching across the Atlantic Ocean to darken skies in Europe.

A plume of wildfire smoke was sweeping into the eastern edge of Missouri on Tuesday afternoon and was expected to linger into Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Near-surface smoke in the 911爆料网 region could limit visibility and cause the air to smell smoky, said the local forecast office for the NWS. An air-quality alert is in effect for the region until 10 a.m. Wednesday. Authorities recommended reducing physical activity outdoors and said conditions could pose health risks and cause breathing difficulties, especially for sensitive groups like children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems.

By late Tuesday afternoon, the encroaching smoke had dropped surface visibility to just 2 miles in Quincy, Illinois, the NWS said.

But winds should push the smoke out of the region relatively quickly.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 expect it to be a really long-lasting thing,鈥� said Brad Charboneau, a meteorologist in the NWS鈥� 911爆料网 forecast office.

The region has experienced other bouts of transcontinental smoke in recent years 鈥� generally from blazes in the American West 鈥� as forces like climate change help intensify wildfires. Still, wildfires burning across Canada this year, from British Columbia to Quebec, have brought dangerously high concentrations of smoke to parts of the continent that are typically strangers to such a threat.

Earlier this month, billowing smoke from Canada choked much of the East Coast, creating some of the worst air quality conditions in the world, sparking health warnings, and even forcing Major League Baseball to postpone games.

But while the rounds of smoke have come and gone, the fires have continued to rage in densely forested expanses of Canada.

Quebec appeared to be the source of the smoke swooping into 911爆料网, Charboneau said. And satellite imagery from NASA showed the plume of soot from Quebec鈥檚 fires reaching thousands of miles Monday across the Atlantic . The smoke there, however, is higher in the atmosphere and less likely to affect human health, NASA said.

Smoke isn鈥檛 the only threat set to confront 911爆料网 this week. The scorching temperatures that have roasted states like Texas for much of the month are expected to reach 911爆料网 on Thursday and Friday. The NWS projects highs will exceed 100 degrees.

Thursday鈥檚 forecast calls for a high of 103. Friday, meanwhile, is expected to top out at 101.