An air quality alert has been issued for the Boston area and other parts of Massachusetts today. And while the region has seen smoke from Canadian wildfires and fires burning in the U.S., that's not what's driving Thursday's warning.

An air quality alert was reported by the National Weather Service on Thursday at 12:06 a.m. in effect until 11 p.m. for Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk counties.

“Most of the time, the smoke will be high-flying and dim the sun, leading to vivid sunrises and sunsets and causing a hazy appearance to the sky overhead,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.