HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The haze many are witnessing over North Alabama today is a "dust plume" from a storm in the Plains, according to the National Weather Service in Huntsville.

The weather service issued a public information statement Friday morning about the haze across the Tennessee Valley. "A high wind and dust storm that occurred across the central plains of Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma Thursday has produced a dust plume which continues to work its way eastward through the Tennessee and lower Mississippi valleys. The depth of this dust plume is most concentrated below 5,0000 feet and is producing noticeably hazy conditions and poorer than average air quality.

Conditions will improve by evening as the plume shifts east, the NWS said.

Those sensitive to poor air quality should stay indoors.