Why is there an air quality alert in Akron? A couple of reasons. Here's what to know

Northeast Ohio is under an air quality alert until midnight Monday.

So, what's causing the poor air quality in the region? A combination of a couple of things.

Here's what to know.

Air Quality Advisory issued for eight Northeast Ohio counties

The National Weather Service has issued an Air Quality Advisory for ground level ozone for Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit counties through midnight Monday.

During this time, the air quality will be unhealthy for sensitive groups — people with lung diseases such as asthma, children and teenagers, older adults, and people who are routinely active outdoors for six or more hours a day.

Why is there an air quality alert?

The main reason for the alert is ground level ozone, but a contributing factor is wildfire smoke drifting over the state.

What is ground level ozone?

Ozone is a gas made up of three oxygen atoms. In the upper atmosphere, ozone is good, protecting the Earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays. But at ground level, ozone is the main ingredient of smog and a harmful pollutant, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Ozone forms at ground level when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, refineries and chemical plants, among others, chemically react in the presence of sunlight. Ozone is most likely to reach unhealthy levels on hot, sunny days in urban environments, according to the EPA, and can be carried by wind, spreading the pollution to rural areas.

Canadian wildfire smoke drifting into the U.S.

Smoke from wildfires in Canada is drifting into the U.S., creating unhealthy air quality last week in parts of Montana, Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to the fire and smoke map maintained by AirNow.gov, which monitors air quality.

Smoke from those fires is drifting over the Buckeye State and beginning to affect the air quality here. According to AirNow's fire and smoke map as of Monday morning, Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo are all showing moderate air quality with the primary pollutant being PM2.5, or fine particulate matter.

What is fine particulate matter?

Fine particulate matter are particles that are less than 2.5 microns in diameter. As a comparison, the average human hair is 50 to 70 microns thick. Breathing unhealthy levels of PM2.5 can increase the risk of heart disease, asthma and low birth weight, according to the New York State Department of Health.

According to the EPA, particulate matter can come from any number of sources. Sources include power plants, automobiles, construction sites or wildfires such as the ones burning in Canada.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires creates unhealthy air conditions across Ohio and the United States in 2023

Last June, smoke from Canadian wildfires covered New York City in an orange haze and caused Detroit, Washington D.C., and New York City to rank among the cities with the worst air quality in the world, USA TODAY reported. Wildfire smoke drifted as far as Florida.

At the time, Canada had about 220 blazes burning “out of control," according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. That year was Canada's worst for wildfires, USA TODAY reported, with 6,600 blazes burning 37 million acres, about seven times the yearly average.

Around Ohio, the smoke caused air quality alerts and hazy skies through June and July, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. It even forced high school sports teams to reschedule practices or move them indoors as school districts adapted to the unhealthy air quality, the Beacon Journal reported.