If you're having trouble breathing today, there's a good reason - smoke from wildfires in Canada is being blown southeast across Iowa and Illinois.
The Iowa DNR is recommending people with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly, and children, limit any outdoor activities until the air quality improves.
It says the US EPA threshold for particulate matter in the air is 35 micrograms per cubic meter - morning readings today ranged from 70 in Iowa City, to 89 in Clinton, 85 in Muscatine, and 90 (!) in Davenport.
But conditions are expected to improve later today when north winds bring in some cleaner air.
(keep track of evolving air quality conditions at: www.shl.uiowa.edu/env/ambient/hourlyaqi.xml)
From today's Winnipeg Sun: "The West is in flames. Out of control wildfires in Saskatchewan have forced more than 9,000 people from their homes and flames threaten several communities in both Saskatchewan and British Columbian."
