The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has released its annual air quality report.
The DNR releases this report each year, which includes data on the effects of the 2023 Canadian wildfire smoke events.
DNR Air Management program director Gail Good has said that five percent of all Canadian forests burned last year, which adversely affected our state’s air quality.
These wildfires caused the Wisconsin DNR to issue 15 air quality warnings in 2023, nearly five times more than the annual average over the last 12 years.
Due to fires and warmer-than-normal summers, Lake Michigan’s coastal counties, such as Sheboygan and Milwaukee Counties, fall short of the ozone standard.
While the state has implemented emission reduction measures recently, they have not reached ozone standard levels.
More information on the 2023 air quality report can be found online at dnr.wisconsin.gov.
