The skies over the Chicago area over the last few days have appeared hazy, with dense fog covering parts of the skyline in the mornings and even during the afternoon rush hour commutes.
But are fog and haze the same?
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WATCH HERENot quite, according to NBC Storm Team 5 Meteorologist Kevin Jeanes. Still, Illinois has seen a bit of both this week.
"Haze becomes more common in the mornings as we heat up in the late-spring and summer months," Jeanes said. "It happens in the morning after cooler air sinks to the surface overnight and that air becomes trapped under warmer air in the morning."
Fog is a cloud on the ground; made up of tiny water droplets when the air is saturated and the winds are light," Jeanes added. "Fog can look similar to haze, but visibility is usually lower, and you’ll definitely see the clouds lifting through the morning as the air mixes after sunrise."
Wildfire smoke and other air quality factors can contribute to how hazy the sky is, Jeanes said.
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"Yes, it’s hazy when have wildfire smoke in the area, but it’s more commonly hazy around Chicago from pollution and dust."
The haze comes as three significant wildfires continue to burn in northeastern Minnesota, with more than 20,000 acres burned so far. That smoke will blow away from the Chicago area Thursday, but that may not be the case as the week continues.
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SIGN UP "It's not out of the question some of the smoke makes it into our area Friday," Jeanes said. "Smoke forecasts are tricky because sometimes it stays way up in the atmosphere."
The Chicago area will also see high fire danger Friday, with low humidity, 40 mile-per-hour wind gust and above average temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s.
Thursday, temperatures in the Chicago area will get dangerously close to a 91-degree heat record, with highs in the upper 80s and low 90s expected.
