BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – An Air Quality Alert is now in effect for roughly the northern third of Vermont until 11 PM this evening. The alert covers Franklin, Chittenden, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orleans, Washington, Caledonia, and Essex counties. If you have respiratory conditions, try to limit outdoor activities in this area.

Unlike recent Saturdays, this one will be relatively quiet. The exception will be Bennington and Windham counties, which will have rain and perhaps an isolated thunderstorm during the morning and early afternoon. Flash flooding isn’t out of the question, especially with recent rain, but the expected rainfall is less than what was expected yesterday. Up to an inch of rain is possible before it moves out early this afternoon. Elsewhere, only a few showers are expected with possibly an isolated thunderstorm. Highs will be in the 70s north, and 60s south.

High pressure will begin to build in overnight, with skies becoming mainly clear. Sunday will be a nice end to the weekend with mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid-70s. Enjoy!

Monday will have some morning sun, then showers are expected later in the afternoon. A few thunderstorms can’t be ruled out. Tuesday looks rather wet with rain likely. Though flooding isn’t expected at this point, it’s shaping up to be a soggy day with solid rain, so our First Alert Weather Team will keep you posted. Wednesday will have some sunshine, but also scattered showers. Thursday and Friday will be dry and pleasant. Highs will be in the 70s with lows in the 50s.

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Smoke from Canadian wildfires continued to obscure Vermont skies on Friday as the Department of Environmental Conservation issued another air quality alert for the northwest portion of the state. The alert, which includes the counties of Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle, is set to end at midnight. 

An expanded alert will be issued by the agency Saturday, according to the National Weather Service office in Burlington. The air quality alert will last from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and cover the counties of Caledonia, Chitteden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orleans and Washington. 

“It’s a moderate level of pollutants, so it’s not going to affect everybody, but it’s mainly for sensitive groups like people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children,” said Peter Banacos, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service’s office in Burlington. While rain is helping to drown out the particulates, smoke that’s hovering over the St. Lawrence Valley could move into northern Vermont over the weekend, according to Banacos.

Those tiny particles within the smoke, known as fine particulate matter or PM 2.5, can get trapped in people’s lungs before entering their bloodstream, causing possible health problems. The wildfire smoke brings elevated concentrations of those particles that can be unhealthy for sensitive groups like older adults and children, pregnant people, outdoor workers and people living outside.

People with asthma should keep their relief medicine nearby, and if residents experience scratchy eyes or throat, a headache or coughing, they’re encouraged to move indoors, according to a media release from the Department of Environmental Conservation on Friday.

On Friday afternoon, the air quality for much of the state was good, and residents could enjoy outdoor activities. But in Burlington and St. Albans, the Environmental Protection Agency’s fire and smoke map indicated that the levels of PM 2.5 were above 100 on the air quality index, meaning the air was unhealthy for those sensitive groups.

The smoke has migrated from more than 200 wildfires churning through Canada, with six new fires starting Friday. Canada faces an especially severe and early start to its fire season, as more severe wildfires become more common under climate change, which is primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels. While 69 fires are burning in British Columbia, more than 100 have consumed the country’s less fire-prone prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

“With these wildfires so far removed from Vermont, we’re not expecting real significant issues,” Banacos said. He recalled worse conditions in 2022, when wildfires raging in Quebec brought thick, low-level smoke to Vermont that reduced visibility and increased air quality issues. “If we get fires that are closer, that could change,” Banacos said.

The worst effects are across the Great Lakes, where smoke has settled over major cities like Detroit and Toronto, but unhealthy air has traveled as far south as Florida this week.

A parking company with more than two dozen private lots in the Burlington area has agreed to pay a hefty fine after the Vermont attorney general found it was using deceptive ticketing practices.

Unified Parking Partners — a New England parking company acquired by hospitality and parking giant Towne Park in 2024 — is set to pay the state $150,000, according to a June 5 press release from Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark’s office.

The attorney general’s investigation found that the company violated the Vermont Consumer Protection Act by using government-style language like “citations” and “fines” on notices sent to drivers for violations made in its private lots. 

The company’s notices also mischaracterized the penalties for not paying fees, suggesting that it could impact someone’s credit rating, vehicle registration, license renewal and ability to rent a car.

In the settlement, Clark wrote that Unified Parking Partners is a “private commercial entity with no governmental authority.”

“Companies have a right to charge for services rendered, but not to trick consumers into paying out of fear that disputing a charge could come with consequences the company has no power to impose,” Clark said.

Clark mandated that the parking company stop “making any representation that may cause a reasonable consumer to believe that a notice of violation is issued by a municipality or governmental authority.”

The settlement between the attorney general and Unified Parking Partners is enforced through an Assurance of Discontinuance, a common way for attorney generals to resolve conflicts. The company plans to pay the $150,000 fine by June 20.

Clark is not the first attorney general to go after the company. Last summer, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha filed a complaint against UPP Global LLC — Unified Parking Partners’ parent company — accusing it of “a pattern of unfair and deceptive conduct including charging customers fees disguised as a ‘tax,’ charging junk ‘service fees,’ failing to disclose parking rates until customers have already parked, and issuing ‘citations’ that mimic government-issued parking tickets and falsely threaten consequences from the Division of Motor Vehicles.”

United Parking Partners has faced criticism from Vermonters for years. In 2017, Seven Days wrote a column about the company’s potentially deceptive ticketing practices.

When reached for comment, United Parking Partners spokesperson Bev Drivin said, “UPP is committed to complying with all applicable local laws and regulations. All practices, policies, signage, and enforcement notices are fully compliant with applicable laws.”