Only Kind of Smoke I Want to Smell in Illinois This Summer

Thick Canadian wildfire smoke has been lying over Illinois for a few days now and it's so thick that I can't smell the smoke I prefer. When will it go away?

Canadian Wildfire Smoke

For a couple of months, we've been seeing pictures and watching videos of how much smoke is in the air from the hundreds of wildfires raging in Canada. In the United States, we first saw just how much smoke was in the air, when the cloud of smoke covered New York.

It's been a few weeks but we're now starting to see the worst of it over several Midwestern states. Here in the Rockford, Illinois area, it's been awful for the last few days.

A friend sent me this photo of how thick the smoke was in Freeport, Illinois on the morning of June 28.

At first, it just looked a bit like a hazy summer day, but it wasn't long before you could barely see a mile down the road. The Air Quality warnings have been nonstop and as of this morning (6/28/23), Illinois is in the Top 10 states with the worst air quality.

My sister lives in Madison, Wisconsin and she took a picture of the sun and it looked like the sun of another planet. The smoke particles floating in the air are not good for us, but damn, the smoke sure is putting up some outstanding colors in the sky.

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Now that the smoke layer is so thick, it's all I can smell. I've never been close to a wildfire before and I had no idea how different they smell than a bonfire.

I don't dislike all smoke though, but I can definitely say the wildfire smoke is not a favorite, I'd put it in the same category as:

• Cigarette smoke
• Cigar smoke
• Burning rubber smoke
• Burnt hair smoke
• Burning oil smoke
• Burning plastic smoke
• Car exhaust
• The burning snakes that kids light up on the 4th of July

Those are my least favorite smoke smells.

Nobody can predict if we won't be covered by another wildfire smoke cloud this summer, but the one hovering over us now is starting to fade as it moves south. I'll be so happy to once again fill my nose with the two best 'smoke smells' on earth.

In fact, I sat in my car in the Aldi parking lot on E. State Street, right behind Smokey Bones and across the street from Mission BBQ, just so I could exchange the wildfire smoke for

the BEST SMELLING SMOKE EVER. Seriously, the intersection of E. State St. and N. Mill Rd. has to be the best-smelling place in Rockford.

BBQ Smoke

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Fire up your grills and smokers and fill the air with the sweet smell of meat being cooked low and slow.

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