Story highlights An area the size of Connecticut has burned so far this year in Alaska

Smoke has hurt air quality even in areas like Fairbanks where no fires have occurred

(CNN) An area the size of Connecticut has burned in Alaska this year, the state said. That's 3.1 million acres, a loss that comes during one of the hottest periods in decades.

The state set a new record for the earliest day with a temperature above 90, when the mercury hit 91 in the town of Eagle on May 23 -- 30 degrees hotter than the average high temperature in May, according to the National Weather Service.

Apart from charred landscape, smoky air is affecting even Alaskans who don't live close to where a fire is raging, said Rick Thoman, a climate scientist for the National Weather Service in Alaska. A Fairbanks resident, Thoman said the air quality has been so bad that advisories to avoid the outdoors have been issued.

"It's quite nasty," he said. "This is not chamber of commerce weather."

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"Given the number of acres that have burned, we will be fighting poor air quality until the snow comes in November," he said.

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