Thanks.
One notices that areas most smoky are not those most proximate to the fires.
Local atmospheric conditions determine the smokiness more than the fires themselves.
Well both. The fires and the atmospheric conditions. Apparently the smoke was high up in the column over the upper midwest. Then some atmospheric condition along the east coast caused it to sink back down the column.
And you can picture where that low pressure system sits from that second map. That's why the smoke was circling around and not thru those New England cities.
Regards.