SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington's wildfire season outlook is above average this summer.
While there are no active fires in Washington or North Idaho, some people have noticed hazy skies as wildfire smoke from Canada drifts into our area.
The horizon is noticeably pale with some haze or smoke in Spokane and North Idaho.
The smoke is coming from large wildfires in Canada's Alberta province.
More than two dozen fires are burning in Alberta and 10,000 people have been forced from their homes.
Alberta Fire says the largest blaze, dubbed the Chuckegg Creek Fire, remains out of control and has burned 887 square miles of land.
Firefighters said hot and dry conditions, along with gusty winds, are proving challenging to firefighting efforts.
Spokane's air quality was sitting in the "moderate" range on Friday morning and is forecast to stay this way throughout the day. The air quality in Coeur d'Alene was also sitting in the "moderate" range.
Some areas of Montana are seeing air quality that falls into the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" or "unhealthy" ranges due to the wildfire smoke.
Smoke has also drifted into North and South Dakota, and Wyoming.
National Weather Service Spokane says residents can expect conditions to gradually improve this weekend as winds push smoke out of the area.
Smoke is well above the ground in our atmosphere and it's only when that smoke reaches the surface that we see a decrease in air quality.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
