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Fireworks and high humidity cause poor air quality at night in Michigan
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Fireworks and high humidity cause poor air quality at night in Michigan

Fireworks combined with a warm, humid air mass caused poor air quality in parts of Michigan last night. Similar conditions are expected tonight.

Poor air quality was reported overnight in Grand Rapids due to smoke from fireworks and a humid air mass. Green is “good,” yellow is “moderate,” and red is “unhealthy.” Graphic provided by AirNow.

Last night, numerous fireworks were set off across the state to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday. This occurred during a thermal inversion, which is when the temperature increases with height. This typically occurs at night and is called a radiation inversion. Thermal inversions act like a lid over the atmosphere, trapping everything below it on the surface. Little to no mixing may occur while there is an inversion.

Weather balloon data from 8 a.m. EDT Friday from NWS Detroit showing a strong temperature inversion near the surface. The red line is temperature and the green line is dew point. Graphic provided by NOAA.

Also, yesterday and last night were very humid. Dew points were in the 60s for much of the day. On the graph, the temperature was the same as the dew point, meaning the relative humidity was 100%. Humid air is harder to mix than dry air. This, combined with the temperature inversion, caused the air to be very stagnant at the surface.

Because of the temperature inversion, smoke from the fireworks was trapped on the ground and could not rise or disperse. All of these factors led to poor air quality. The weather station at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport reported smoke from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

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