Like many Michiganders, Stasia Cole used to spend her summer outdoors. Now she finds herself trapped inside her northeast Grand Rapids home most of the time, trying to escape the heat and hazy skies.

“It’s almost like it chokes you. It feels like there’s a tickle in the back of your throat, and you just can’t stop coughing and coughing and coughing, and you just can’t take a breath in,” said Cole, 60, who suffers from severe persistent asthma triggered by smoky air and hot, humid weather.

“I just quickly have to get inside and know that I can’t be outside when there’s wildfire smoke. With the humidity, it’s different. It just feels like you can’t take a deep breath.”

Cole is not alone. More and more people in Michigan are gagging on smoky air blowing in from Canada’s wildfires or strugg

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