How did Canadian wildfire smoke tamp down New England storms?

An episode of severe weather was expected across northern New England earlier this week, but was thwarted by the presence of thick wildfire smoke from Canada.

The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center initially outlined an enhanced (Level 3 out of 5) risk of severe weather in northern Vermont, New Hampshire and western Maine. A few rotating supercell thunderstorms with large, destructive hail, damaging winds and even a couple of tornadoes were anticipated.