CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The haze that continues to dim our skies is the result of smoke from agricultural burns in Mexico and Central America.
But is that haze dangerous?
We spoke with a doctor who says for some, it is.
"It's the particulate matter, as we all know, in terms of irritation to the lungs and to the human body in general," said Dr. Vijay Bindingnavale. "The size of the particles in the air have different effects. And agricultural burns are rough."
The fires are typical for this time of year, but the winds are making the smoke from those fires a problem for much of Texas and even farther north.
A NASA picture of the fires in Central America shows fires using red dots. Another picture shows the wind currents bringing the smoke up the Yucatán Peninsula all the way to the Coastal Bend and beyond.
The haziness has even restricted what certain people can do, such as Johnny de la Fuente's sister.
"Some days it was real hazy," Johnny said. "Me and my sister go walk -- she's allergic to stuff -- there were some days where she could not even do the walk."
Meteorologist Carly Smith said the haze is the result of a southerly wind blowing straight up to Corpus Christi from the Yucatán.
"That's been with us," she said. "It just depends on how many fires and how much smoke is being produced and it's going to come up and be worse some days than others."
Bindingnavale said if you're unhealthy or sensitive to the haze, stay indoors.
And making the air moist will help as well.
"Just put plates of water out," he said. "But then you'll want to change it out. You got the highest quality filter that you can put into your home air conditioners. The best. Vacuum cleaner; the same thing. And they're called HEPA filters."
De la Fuente said when the air gets this bad, his sister stays inside or spends the day at the mall.
There's no definite time when these burns will end, but the hope is if they're at their worst now, they'll start to wind down.
"We understand they have to do it, but it still affects Corpus Christi," he said.