Wet holiday weekend in WNY may help get rid of the smoke

Western New York awoke again Friday to “unhealthy” air quality as smoke from out-of-control wildfires in Canada poured back across the region, but those conditions are expected to continue to get better, according to Aaron Reynolds, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga.

“Sometimes, when you get moisture … it can remove some of the particulates in the air,” Reynolds said.

However, along with the rain, conditions are expected to get warm and muggy through the long holiday weekend.

“It’s not what people want to hear,” acknowledged Liz Jurkowski, another meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Friday morning, air monitors operated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation showed the air quality shifting between “unhealthy for sensitive groups” and “unhealthy.”