Has smoke from the Canadian wildfires reached Fort Worth? Here’s why the skies are hazy

On your drive to work Wednesday, you may have noticed that the Fort Worth sky is hazy.

What you are likely seeing is the onset of the summer “heat dome,” says Victor Murphy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

“This is the typical summer pattern in which winds aloft become very light, and the atmosphere becomes very stable, with little atmospheric mixing between the upper atmosphere and the lower levels of the atmosphere,” Murphy explained.

This is not the smoke from Canadian wildfires that is causing alarm in many northeastern cities and the Upper Midwest. The New York Times reported Wednesday that commuters wore masks to walk the streets, schools kept children indoors during recess and officials warned millions to avoid stepping outside. The NYT also has this animated map of the hourly forecast of the drifting smoke from the wildfires.

This is also the time of year when plumes of dust from Saharan storms drift over the Atlantic to reach Texas. A report in the Star-Telegram June 8, 2022, stated: “A fresh supply of dust was airlifted from the Sahara in early June 2022, and some of it appeared to be headed for the Americas,” NASA said in a June 7 release.

Earlier in February, the skies over Fort Worth turned milky with haze as particles from raging dust storms in West Texas blew east.

Weather forecast for Fort Worth the rest of the week

The chances of rain through Friday are near zero, which is expected in this very stable atmosphere, Murphy said. This is very common in the summer, and occurs when there is a “lid” aloft, or cap on the atmosphere that keeps any pollutants or haze trapped in the lower levels of the atmosphere.

With the onset of this summer heat dome pattern, we are about one week away from our first protracted heat wave of the summer, Murphy says. Current extended forecasts are calling for the first 100 degree day of the year next Wednesday (June 16) or Thursday (June 17). One hundred degree temperatures should stick around through that weekend. The hazy conditions we’re seeing today are a precursor of that.