A Triple Dose of Air Quality Concerns Hangs Over Connecticut

Not one, not two, but three things are affecting the quality of the air we're all breathing in today in Connecticut.

If you're an allergy sufferer or have difficulties breathing it might be a good time for you to stay inside today and tomorrow, especially along the shoreline here in Connecticut. The first enemy that's trying to take your breath away is tree pollen. It was a cool, wet May, and the cottonwood trees are just starting to rain down those little puffs of snow across the area. It really does look like flurries are passing through, and the photo you see above was taken right outside of my backdoor last night. A thin layer of white puffs has hidden most of the green grass arounf my place, and my neighbors are eating Zyrtec and Benadryl like they're M&M's.

As for the second threat the National Weather Service has just issued an Air Quality Alert for Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, and Northern New London Counties from 11AM today until 11PM tonight due to Ground level Ozone which may exceed unhealthy standards.

And if you can still smell through all of that pollen and Ozone in our air, you may have got a whiff of the third threat to the sensitive breathers of Connecticut - Smoke from wildfires burning all the way up in Manitoba, Canada, which has blanketed the upper Midwest for most of the past week, and now has made it's way into New England as our temperatures approach 90 for the first time in 2025. I'm firing up my HEPA air filter as we speak.