This report is updated during times of severe and/or widespread smoke impacts, as often as three days per week during peak fire activity.
The smoke report provides a broad summary of wildfire smoke conditions in the United States at the surface (ground) level, forecasted for the current day and the following day. It includes a national overview of wildfire surface smoke prevalence (low, moderate, high), followed by a summary of wildfire surface smoke impact level (light, medium, heavy) for affected areas.
Smoke prevalence categories are defined as:
- Low – 1 to 3 subregions (i.e., census divisions) affected
- Moderate – 4 to 6 subregions affected
- High – 7 to 9 subregions affected
Smoke impact level categories are defined as:
- Light – Most of the affected area has PM2.5 Air Quality Index (AQI) in the Good or Moderate category
- Medium – Most of the affected area has PM2.5 AQI in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups category
- Heavy – Most of the affected area has PM2.5 AQI in the Unhealthy or worse category
For current information about air quality, smoke impacts, forecasts, trends and more in your area, visit fire.airnow.gov.
