Haze from the Minnesota and Canada wildfires envelops the city on July 16, 2026, in Chicago. In the foreground is the Spirit of Progress statue. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Thick haze settled over northern Illinois on Thursday morning as dangerous levels of wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota rolled into the area, and it might get worse tonight, according to the National Weather Service.
Haze caused by wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota hangs over the West Side of Chicago and obscures visibility on July 16, 2026, in the Austin neighborhood. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Bikers ride along the lakeshore near 31st Street Beach during a haze-filled morning from the Canadian wildfires in Chicago on July 16, 2026. (Peter Tsai/Chicago Tribune)A view of the skyline along Interstate 290 as a thick haze from wildfires in Canada and Minnesota settles over Chicago the morning of July 16, 2026. (Peter Tsai/Chicago Tribune)A view of the sun though the morning haze and clouds as wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota rolls into the area on July 16, 2026, in Chicago. (Peter Tsai/Chicago Tribune)A CTA “L” Green Line train runs through the haze in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side as wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota settles in the area on July 16, 2026. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Haze from the Minnesota and Canada wildfires make the Chicago skyline invisible from about three miles north on the Kennedy Expressway, July 16, 2026. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Plumes of smoke from the Camp Fire hang in the air on Moose Lake as multiple wildfires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness prompted its closure and evacuation on July 14, 2026, in Ely, Minnesota. (Anthony Soufflé/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
