Harmful air quality forces some South-Central Pennsylvania attractions, businesses to close, events to be rescheduled
It’s 6:57. Time for WJAL News 8 to go. We do have live team coverage on this alert day. Let’s begin with Christine. Let’s take *** look at the sky in Harrisburg. You can’t see very far in front of you. Visibility is quite low due to the thick wildfire, smoke, and haze, and you can see it here in our sky cam. The river kind of disappears out in the distance. We are under *** code purple, *** very rare air quality alert for the entire state of Pennsylvania. That means the air quality. is harmful or very unhealthy for everybody. You could experience coughing, stinging, or itching eyes, breathing difficulties, especially if you have heart or lung conditions. So some recommendations keep your windows and doors closed at home. Keep your air on recirculate as you’re out on your morning drive in your car and at your home. If you have filters, you can run those as well. Current air quality readings right now, we have harmful that purple for the entire Susquehanna. Valley, but this one sticks out in your county, reading in at hazardous. That’s as bad as it gets. So please limit your time outdoors today and be cautious in the smoke. Right now temperatures are in the 60s to 70s. Dew points have dropped, but it’s not *** good day to be outdoors. Still going to be hot and hazy, blocking the sunshine throughout the day. Tonight we have 72 for the low, smoky and hazy. Tomorrow, scattered storms. We’ll talk more about those coming up. Good morning. I’m Gabrielle Thomas live here in Lancaster Lancaster City along East James Street. If you take *** look here, you can see how hazy the sky is. It’s looked like this all morning and across the Susquehanna Valley for sure. Doctors say that the message is very clear today. Please stay indoors. If you don’t have to be outside. Stay inside. Those that are most at risk though are people with chronic lung or heart diseases. Good morning, I’m Cameron Loy. We’re live at Samuel Lewis Park in York County. I want to give you *** look at what we’re seeing from our vantage point right now. You can see how this haze is just really making the visibility here *** lot more difficult, really making that distant, uh, picture *** lot more gray with this, uh, conditions that we’re seeing today. Obviously we want to reiterate, if you do plan on going outside, reconsider with these conditions still in effect, staying inside is one of the best ways to stay safe while this, uh, while this code purple is in effect. And as we saw with Cameron and with with Gabrielle, you can see it’s very hazy outside. Wanted to give you *** look from our penda cameras, other parts of the Susquenna Valley, East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Route 30 at Route 462 there, giving you *** look on Route 30 at Columbia Marietta. Can’t get over this shot. It is just absolutely so hazy there. Uh, be careful as you’re making your way out. More on those storms for Saturday on our impact day. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected. I think there may be *** round of morning showers, but sometimes this wildfire smoke inhibits storm production, so we might not see much tomorrow morning. I do expect the strongest storms though around dinner time to about midnight tomorrow as *** cold front approaches. So all threats of severe weather on the table. We’ll be with you throughout those storms and of course the air quality.
Harmful air quality forces some South-Central Pennsylvania attractions, businesses to close, events to be rescheduled
Updated: 11:55 AM EDT Jul 17, 2026
The thick smoke from Canadian wildfires that is blanketing South-Central Pennsylvania is forcing some attractions and other businesses to close on Friday, July 17. And some community events are being postponed. Video above: Top stories, weather forecast from WGAL News 8 Today.We’re keeping track of what’s closed, canceled or postponed on this page. If you have something you would like added to this page, send us an email at news8@wgal.com.Cumberland CountyThe Camp Hill Pool is closed.Dauphin CountyHersheypark IS OPEN as scheduled Friday. However, guests who purchased dated tickets and would prefer to visit on a different day should reach out to the Guest Experience team via the Contact Us form on Hersheypark.com for accommodations.Lancaster CountyCherry Crest Adventure Farm is closed.The Columbia Lion’s Club Music in the Park event is rescheduled for Friday, July 24.Dutch Wonderland is closed.Scoops has closed their Boulders Mini Golf. Additionally, Santa will not be visiting Friday night, but should return Saturday. As for food, they are encouraging customers to place all orders online at scoopsgrille.com and pick up in the drive thru. We will be updating this list throughout the day as more announcements are made.
The thick smoke from Canadian wildfires that is blanketing South-Central Pennsylvania is forcing some attractions and other businesses to close on Friday, July 17. And some community events are being postponed.
Video above: Top stories, weather forecast from WGAL News 8 Today.
We’re keeping track of what’s closed, canceled or postponed on this page. If you have something you would like added to this page, send us an email at news8@wgal.com.
Cumberland County
Dauphin County
Hersheypark IS OPEN as scheduled Friday. However, guests who purchased dated tickets and would prefer to visit on a different day should reach out to the Guest Experience team via the Contact Us form on Hersheypark.com for accommodations.
Lancaster County
We will be updating this list throughout the day as more announcements are made.