LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentuckians with family on the East Coast hope it doesn't get that bad here.
At first, you might think it was late morning fog, or a slow burning summer haze, but the yellowish tint in the sky is caused by wildfire smoke flowing into Kentucky from Canada.
In Louisville on Thursday some residents say they hadn’t paid it much attention. Others, like Marti Calderwood, have.
“I usually don’t have respiratory issues, but I know a lot of people who do,” Calderwood told Spectrum News 1.
The longtime Louisville resident has families in New York City and Delaware areas of the country more severely hampered by the thick, wildfire smoke. Calderwood’s son lives with his family in Manhattan.
“Oh, the sky is yellow. It looks apocalyptic,” Calderwood said.
The level of smoke in New York and other parts of the East Coast is dramatic.
Calderwood says the smoke is now seeping into her son’s apartment. “I checked in with him this morning and they just noticed the smoke in hallways of the apartment building where they live on the tenth floor and my niece and nephew are just staying inside,” she shared.
The air quality in Louisville began to degrade on Tuesday. Air quality alerts are in effect until at least Friday in the metro area and parts of northern Kentucky. A traffic sign below the Second Street Bridge is alerting drivers to the hazard.
“I will say my throat has noticed something different though because it’s scratchy,” Kathy Regneri said while on a morning walk in Cherokee Park. She wonders if she’s starting to feel the effects of overhead smoke.
Calderwood texts daily with her son and says his family is staying indoors as much as possible. “And it looks like a nudge from Mother Nature that we need to start taking care of our earth,” she added.