The Olympic Ski Jumps, pictured from the Olympic Center, are shrouded in dense smoke late last month. (Enterprise photo — Arthur Maiorella)

SARANAC LAKE — The air quality in the Tri-Lakes region is expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups on Tuesday.

An Air Quality Index value of 135 is predicted for Saranac Lake and surrounding areas Tuesday, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov Air Quality Index, or AQI, reporting tool. That means the air quality will be OK for most people but unhealthy for those with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens.

The New York departments of Health and Environmental Conservation issued a statewide air quality advisory on Sunday that was in effect from midnight to 11:59 p.m. on Monday because air quality was projected to reach “unhealthy” levels. On Monday afternoon, that advisory was extended through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

When outdoor AQI levels are elevated, going indoors may reduce exposure, according to the DEC. If there are significant indoor sources of smoke — such as tobacco, candle or incense smoke, or fumes from cooking — levels inside may not be lower than outside.

Some ways to reduce exposure are to minimize outdoor and indoor sources and avoid strenuous activities in areas where fine particle concentrations are high.

The air quality issues seen at various times throughout this summer comes as historic wildfires continue to burn in Quebec and follows a bout of severe flooding in the central Adirondacks last week.

Scientists say that the frequency of extreme weather — such as last week’s flooding and the ongoing wildfires — will increase as the climate warms.

Paul Smith’s College biology professor Curt Stager told the Enterprise last week that extreme weather events such as the recent flooding in Long Lake are “directly the result of burning fossil fuels on such a large scale for so long.”

Smoke from the wildfires in Quebec is impacting a broad swath of the United States. Parts of Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New York state hit AQI levels above 150 on Monday, meaning the air quality was considered unhealthy for everyone.

As of Monday afternoon, there were 882 active fires still raging in Canada, with 581 of them considered “out of control,” according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.