Hazy visits area . . . without hot and humid

This image provided by the National Weather Service at Albany shows the smoke plume that is hovering over the Capital Region today.

A plume of smoke from wildfires in western Canada hung over the Capital Region and much of the Northeast Friday and made the sky hazy.

“It’s interesting,” said Joe Villani, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “Most people won’t even notice it because it just looks like it’s a hazy day today.”

But hazy summer days are usually hot and humid.

“This is really not one of those days,” Villani said, noting Friday’s cool and dry conditions.

He said the plume originated from wildfires near Calgary and was brought here by the jet stream. At tens of thousands of feet above, in the upper part of the atmosphere, the smoke shouldn’t have any respiratory effects on Capital Region residents, he said.

Satellite images taken at sunrise Friday morning showed the plume moving into upstate New York and New England and by noon, the plume’s western edge was almost to Buffalo, he said. The plume continued to head east and was expected to leave the region by today.

“It’s moving at a pretty good clip,” he said.