HOUSTON – If you have been out and about the last couple of days, you probably have noticed all the haze blanketing the Houston area.
This haze is actually smoke from wildfires across Mexico and Central America that has drifted north into Southeast Texas.
Some of the fires the smoke is coming from are actually controlled burns.
This has led to a reduction in air quality and can be unhealthy for sensitive groups of people.
However, this smoke has led to one thing and that is our high temperatures actually being a few degrees less than expected.
Similar to cloud cover, the smoke reflects sunlight, allowing the atmosphere to remain a few degrees cooler than it could be.
Of course, it is still hot out there and the humidity is making it feel a lot hotter, but the actual air temperature could be even hotter if the smoke wasn’t around.
The smoke should stick around today and also tomorrow before a cold front comes in Tuesday evening. That front will help clear the smoke out and the Houston area should see improving air quality come Wednesday.