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Now on to the episode.

Thank you. This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public. I'm Jane Lindholm, and we're back

today with a quick bonus episode in between regular ones. It's a beautiful day here in Vermont as I'm

recording this. The sun is shining high up in a bright blue sky and fluffy clouds are floating by,

and the mountains in the distance are crisp and dark

against the horizon. But I have to say, that's not how it's been for a lot of the summer.

Here in the northeastern United States, where But Why is based, the past few years have brought

us an atmospheric phenomenon that we didn't really have all that much

experience with until recently. Super hazy days where the sun looks pink and the sky is a blanket

of gray and you can't even see the mountains. The haze is caused by wildfire smoke that has been

blown into our region from forest fires hundreds

or even thousands of miles away, often in Canada. Depending on where you live in the world,

you might have experienced this phenomenon recently, too. Back in 2020, we made a whole

episode about wildfires called What Happens to the Forest after a Fire?

We'll link to that episode in the show notes, but today's episode isn't about the forests or even the fires.

...