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Topline
The haze of smoke from Canadian wildfires that smothered New York and New England in dark clouds Tuesday night is expected to linger throughout the week, and intensify in some areas as officials urge residents to stay inside and schools cancel outdoor activity amid “unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality levels.
Yankee Stadium was masked in a haze of smoke from wildfires in Canada Tuesday night.
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Key Facts
New York City Mayor Eric ams on Wednesday urged residents to stay inside amid “dangerously high levels of wildfire smoke,” after hazy skies swept through the city, engulfing it in a striking dark cloud and bringing the air quality index to 218, considered a “very unhealthy” level by the Environmental Protection Agency—poor air quality is expected to persist in New York City through Thursday.
Philadelphia’s Health Department recommended residents “avoid unnecessary exposure,” avoid going outside “as much as possible” and close windows and doors to prevent smoke from entering homes, after the effects of the smoke worsened Tuesday night.
The National Weather Service’s Detroit station also issued an air quality alert through Thursday throughout southeastern Michigan, warning the smoke will reach an “unhealthy range at times.”
The NWS also recommended residents in Baltimore limit outdoor time and for people with respiratory illnesses to wear masks, while lingering smoke in Buffalo could become “unhealthy” for residents and especially “sensitive groups.”
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In Syracuse, New York, the EPA warned of elevated and “hazardous” health effects for all people in the city as the agency’s air quality index entered a dismal “code maroon,” with an index level above 300, while other areas in upstate New York remain in “very unhealthy” and “unhealthy” levels.
Tangent
Officials in the northern Quebec city of Chibougamau ordered more than 7,000 residents to evacuate Tuesday night, becoming the latest Canadian community to evacuate, just hours after officials in neighboring Ouje-Bougoumou issued an evacuation order affecting nearly 800 residents, roughly 15 miles from two active wildfires, the CBC reported.
Big Number
More than 400. That’s how many active wildfires are burning in Canada, according to the country’s Interagency Forest Fire Centre, including in the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia and Ontario, carrying rare plumes of dark gray and hazy smoke southward to East Coast cities and towns that are not accustomed to seeing the kind of wildfire smoke often seen on the West Coast and Rocky Mountains. The National Weather Service, as of Wednesday morning, has issued air quality alerts from New Hampshire, Vermont and upstate New York, through the mid-Atlantic, and south to the Carolinas, warning exposure to pollutants in the air can cause headaches, irritated eyes and sinuses, fatigue, chest pain and difficulty breathing.
Further Reading
Images Of New York City Engulfed By Canadian Wildfire Smoke (Forbes)
