Air quality issues will be a concern in southern Illinois Tuesday

Along with the extreme heat on Tuesday, some folks will have to be concerned about the air quality as it approaches unhealthy levels for part of the region.

Canadian wildfire smoke is still the culprit for discomfort from the Upper Midwest into the northeastern states. But the edge of the plume has also been nudging southward each day.

Tuesday's air quality forecast is moderate for Kentucky and Tennessee (yellow on the attached map), as well as southernmost Illinois. But as close as Union, Johnson and Pope counties, a fairly defined edge quickly ramps up through the orange level right into the unhealthy (red) zone.

That air mass will contain a high enough level of suspended particulates  to cause some people to experience respiratory issues.

A chance for strong to severe thunderstorms late Tuesday could help flush some of the irritants out of the air. There'll also be a pronounced drop in temperatures to 84 on Wednesday and 80 on Thursday, ten degrees cooler than average and nearly twenty degrees less than Tuesday.