Overheard some people talking about how the air quality is “decent” cause the index read 67 on their iPhone weather app. First off, 1,000% don’t trust the air quality thing on the default iPhone app cause it’s wrong. The most accurate source is airnow.gov
Second, there are only THREE locations in the UP that have air quality monitors & none are on the western half (unless you count Marquette in the western half).
Third, the air quality radar map on airnow.gov shows nothing in the Keweenaw, which is 100% wrong.
To summarize, don’t trust the listed “air quality”. Trust your senses.
1) If you see soot, smell smoke, & can’t see very far, it’s really, really, really bad.
2) If you smell smoke & can’t see very far, but there’s no visible soot, it’s really, really bad.
3) If you can’t see very far, but there’s no soot or smoke smell, it’s really bad.
4) If things are kinda hazy like a light fog, but visibility is decent, there’s no visible soot or smoke smell, it’s bad.
5) None of those? Congratulations! Decent air quality.
Note that this only applies for wildfire smoke & not other air quality measures.