Editor's Note: The air quality alert has been extended in Thursday. Our original story continues below.
Chicago residents can expect to see -- and smell -- the smoke and haze from Canadian wildfires for another day Wednesday as an Air Quality Alert remains in place until midnight, with air quality readings for much of the area still hovering in the "Very Unhealthy" category, according to AirNow, the Environmental Protection Agency's air quality monitoring platform.
As of 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, much of Chicago's air quality remains "Very Unhealthy"," -- level four on a six-level scale -- with a PM2.5 of 225.
Some parts of the Chicago area though, including those closer to the lake, have been downgraded to "Unhealthy" as poor air quality conditions are expected to slowly and gradually improve through the afternoon and evening hours, NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Alicia Roman says.
In the "Very Unhealthy" category, all residents, especially seniors, children, and those with heart or lung disease, are advised to limit their time outdoors. Tuesday, as the poor air quality continued to worsen, events across the city and suburbs were postponed due to the conditions. In Evanston, officials moved to close beaches, later advising residents that beaches would remain closed Wednesday as well.
Mayor Johnson on Tuesday also issued a statement regarding the air quality, saying that the city is "carefully monitoring" Chicago's air quality, adding that residents may consider wearing masks.
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“This is what we would call an extreme,” Rich Guidice, chief of staff for Mayor Brandon Johnson, said. “Just as we have extreme heat, extreme cold, this is extremely poor air quality.”
According to the National Weather Service, the Air Quality Alert for northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana will continue until midnight. But that's not all residents can expect when it comes to the weather Wednesday.
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According to the NBC 5 Storm Team, an active weather pattern developing Wednesday is expected to bring daily rain through the weekend, with some storms in the forecast. And though some clusters of showers moving in through Iowa could hit parts of Illinois Wednesday, the higher chance for rain and storms will come overnight into Thursday, Roman says.
According to the NBC 5 Storm Team, storms on Wednesday have only a marginal risk of becoming strong. However, some storms Thursday have a higher potential to become severe, with heavy downpours, winds up to 60 miles per hour, hail and flooding all possible.
Temperatures Wednesday are expected to remain in the upper 70s to mid 80s, with low humidity. Thursday though, humidity is expected to build and temperatures are likely to rise into the 80s and 90s, the NBC 5 Storm Team says.
Rain and storm chances are expected to continue Friday and into the weekend, forecast models show.
