Chicago and Indiana counties under air quality alert due to Canadian wildfire smoke until Thursday, National Weather Service says [Video]

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Chicago area is under an air quality alert until Thursday due to the Canadian wildfire smoke until Thursday.

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The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency declared an “Air Pollution Action Day” for the greater Chicago area until midnight on Thursday.

Children, and those with pulmonary or respiratory diseases such as asthma, are recommended to limit their time outdoors.

The alert was in effect for northern and northeast Illinois and Northwest Indiana.

A tracker with the latest updates on air quality levels for areas across the state can be found on the AirNow government website.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

Conditions at ground level are unhealthy in Midwest

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow map showed a swath of red for “unhealthy” conditions across the eastern half Minnesota into western Wisconsin and northern Iowa. The map also showed purple for “very unhealthy” across much of the Minneapolis-St. Paul …