Smoke from wildfires in western North Carolina has spread across the state, causing the air quality in the Triangle to worsen to Code Orange on the Air Quality Index Friday, according to the NC Department of Environmental Quality.
The Air Quality Index is a scale used by the National Weather Service; Code Orange means that “active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit outdoor exertion,” according to the National Weather Service’s website.
According to a Facebook post from the NC Air Quality Forecast Center, a division of the Department of Environmental Quality, the Code Orange alert will end at 2 p.m. on Saturday as a cold front pushes the smoke farther east and out of the Triangle region.
The air quality has not changed the status of Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. football game at Carter-Finley Stadium, but until the air quality improves from Code Orange, the DEQ advises sensitive groups — children, older adults and anyone with heart or respiratory problems — to limit outdoor exposure.
