PHILADELPHIA - A highly unusual weather pattern is bringing critically dangerous wildfire conditions to a swath of the Northeast, including the Philadelphia and New Jersey area.Meanwhile, wildfire smoke from multiple blazes already burning across Canada has flooded the skies with renewed haze and poor air quality.A deep and dry layer of air moved into the Great Lakes Monday night and is spreading into parts of the Northeast on Tuesday, dropping the humidity to as low as 25% and bringing a swath of breezy, gusty winds.(FOX Weather)Meanwhile, an upper-level trough of low pressure is expected to trigger a round of "dry" thunderstorms across parts of the mid-Atlantic – common in the Desert Southwest but rare in the East.WHY DRY THUNDERSTORMS POSE WILDFIRE RISKSWith the dry air in place, any rain may evaporate before reaching the ground, meaning lightning strikes may come without any wetting rainfall.
With recent dry weather leaving the ground parched, any lighting strike could start a fire that would have the potential for rapid spread amid the breezy and dry conditions.(FOX Weather)NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has issued a "critical" wildfire risk – a level 2 on its 3-rung scale for fire weather danger – for nearly 8 million people around the Philadelphia and southern New Jersey area.