June 7, 2023 Canada wildfire smoke and US air quality news

Our live coverage has moved. You can follow the latest updates on air quality across the US and Canada here.

Smoke creeping down from the Quebec wildfires is going to continue, turning the sky an eerie orange along with it. And there’s not much anyone can do about it.

Here’s what you should know:

How long will this last? CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray said on “CNN News Central” Wednesday that “this could be something we deal with off and on throughout the remainder of the summer.”

“Canada is still early in their fire season, and it has just exploded; while some days might be better than others, this could be a problem we’re talking about long term,” she added.

Why is it happening? We are essentially stuck in a weather pattern, said Gray, pointing to an area of high pressure to the northwest of the Great Lakes.

“It’s channeling these winds out of the north and bringing the smoke in day after day,” she said. “Until this big weather pattern decides to shift and we get a change in wind direction, the smoke is going to stick around.”

The smoke could also move more toward the Midwest and the Ohio Valley before swinging back toward the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Why on the East Coast? The North American West has become much more accustomed to wildfire smoke in recent years. Last year, it was Europe suffering. This year, smoke is hurting the East Coast. While this year could be relatively quiet for the Southwest, the National Interagency Fire Center predicts above-normal fire activity in the Pacific Northwest through September and in the Northeast through August.

A new normal. The United Nations warned last year that the number of extreme wildfires will jump 14% by 2030 and 30% by 2050. The world must “learn to live with fire,” according to that report from the UN Environment Programme.

While the Northeast is currently dealing with smoke from wildfires, it is the portion of the country in the least danger from wildfires themselves. In coming decades, more and more of the country, particularly in the Southwest, will become susceptible to wildfires, according to data from the nonprofit First Street Foundation analyzed by The Washington Post last year.

Read more:

Officials in Monroe County, New York, closed facilities and canceled an event Wednesday due to poor air quality in the area.

“With an Air Quality Health Alert in effect for Monroe County, I have closed the Seneca Park Zoo and all county parks including the Genesee Valley, Durand Eastman and Churchville golf courses,” Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said on Twitter Wednesday. “Please limit your exposure to outdoor air today and stay indoors if possible.”

The Seneca Park Zoo staff moved many animals indoors and all employees who worked outdoors were reassigned to indoor tasks, according to a county statement. A concert scheduled for Wednesday night at Ontario Beach Park was also canceled.

Monroe County is located northeast of Buffalo and encompasses the city of Rochester.

Air quality conditions are expected to improve overnight in New York City before deteriorating again Thursday afternoon and evening, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday.

“I want to be clear, while there may be potential for significantly improved conditions by Friday morning, smoke predictability that far out is low, is difficult to predict the movement of the smoke…this is an unpredictable series of events,” he added.

The air quality index (AQI) hit 484 at 5 p.m. ET today, Adams said, reiterating his remarks this morning that the city has not seen air quality levels like this since the 1960s. New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol said AQI levels above 300 are “considered hazardous.”

The mayor cautioned that it’s hard to forecast the path of the smoke and how long it might stay in and around the city.

He said all city events outdoors would be canceled and urged others to follow suit. City beaches will also remain closed, he said. 

Delaware is among northeastern states advising residents to be cautious when going outdoors due to poor air quality conditions from Canadian wildfires.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) issued an alert due to the unhealthy air quality that is expected Wednesday and Thursday throughout the state.

All residents are advised to limit time spent outdoors and to stay indoors, preferably in a space with filtered air, a release from the DNREC says.

“Wildfires in eastern Canada are emitting particulate matter into the atmosphere, affecting air quality throughout the northeast, including in Delaware,” the release says. As a result of the particulate matter, a “Code Red Action Day” is in effect for Wednesday and Thursday for the state.

N95 makes are recommended for those who must go outside, the department said. The DNREC also urges residents to avoid spraying aerosol products, frying or broiling meat, and avoiding vacuuming as it will stir up particles inside a home.

New York state is making one million N95 masks available to the public due to the ongoing poor air quality from Canadian wildfires, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday evening.

Approximately 400,000 N95 masks will be distributed at New York state parks, MTA stations and other locations, such as the Javits Center and Port Authority Bus Station in New York City, Hochul said at a press briefing. An additional 600,000 masks will be made available at Homeland Security stockpiles for local governments to pick up, she said.

Hochul called the poor air quality “unprecedented” and “a very serious, dangerous situation.” She recommended that people across New York state cancel outdoor activities. 

“Simply stay indoors. Outdoors is dangerous in just about every part of our state,” the governor said.

Hochul also noted that some of the highest poor air quality indexes (AQI) have been recorded in New York City on Wednesday. While a normal AQI is 50, Brooklyn recorded an AQI of 413 and Queens recorded an AQI of 407, marking an 800% increase over what is considered a safe air quality level, Hochul said.

The governor added that the “plume” is expected to head westward into Buffalo and other parts of western New York Thursday, hopefully abating over the weekend. 

Officials at the briefing said they have been monitoring any potential upticks in respiratory illnesses or health issues due to the poor air quality, but that no spikes have yet been reported, Hochul said. 

CNN’s Zenebou Sylla contributed to this report.

Rhode Island is extending the state’s air quality alert through Thursday, citing heavy smoke and unhealthy particles on the Air Quality Index.

“The heavy smoke will continue to impact Rhode Island on Thursday with wood burning odors, haze, and unhealthy fine particles readings throughout the day,” the state’s Department of Environmental Management said in a statement.

The Rhode Island Department of Health continues to recommend people stay indoors but if they have to go outside, they encourage residents to wear N95 masks, do less strenuous outdoor activities and shorten the amount of time they are outside, according to the statement.

Professional sports teams are postponing games as smoke from Canadian wildfires blanket the US Northeast.

The Women’s National Basketball Association said the smoke is impacting the New York Liberty’s home arena — so much so that the league has postponed Wednesday’s game between the Liberty and Minnesota Lynx scheduled to be held at the Barclays Center.

The WNBA said information on the rescheduled date of the game will be provided at a later date.

The National Women’s Soccer League also postponed the Challenge Cup match scheduled for Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, between the Orlando Pride and NJ/NY Gotcham FC.

“The safety of our players, officials and fans is our top priority,” the league said in a statement. “Following consultation with the NWSL Medical and Operations staff, it was determined that the match could not be safely conducted based on the projected air quality index.”

The match is rescheduled for August 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET, the NWSL said.

Major League Baseball also postponed two games Wednesday due to the air quality in New York and Philadelphia.

And the wildfire smoke also forced the closure of at least three horse racing tracks on the US East Coast. The New York Racing Association also canceled a training scheduled for Thursday due to air quality conditions.

Schools across the Northeast are canceling outdoor activities on Wednesday due to poor air quality. Here are some of the announcements:

New York: New York City’s public schools are open but will be canceling all outdoor events, the school district said in a statement on its website.

Chappaqua Central School District in Westchester County, New York, is dismissing all of its students early on Wednesday due to the ongoing air quality conditions, according to an announcement on the district’s website. While a Board of Education meeting will proceed as scheduled, all after-school activities have been canceled, the district said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is urging other school districts across the state to also cancel their outdoor activities, according to a statement from her office.

“My administration has been in contact with the cities of Syracuse, Rochester and New York. I support their decisions and the decisions of other districts to suspend outdoor school activities and strongly urge those who have not yet done so to follow suit,” Hochul said.

Washington, DC: Public schools canceled outdoor activities Wednesday. “This includes recess, outdoor Physical Education classes, athletic practices and competitions, and any school-specific events or field trips intended for the outdoors,” DC Public Schools said in a tweet. The city is noticeably smoky throughout the area due to wildfires in Canada.

Montgomery County, Maryland: Outdoor activities are canceled for Wednesday and Thursday, and any field trips will need to be rescheduled, according to a message from the school district. The county includes several suburbs of Washington, DC, including Bethesda and Rockville. The public school district has over 158,000 students and is the largest school system in Maryland.

Fairfax County, Virginia: All afternoon and evening outdoor activities for the Fairfax County Public School District in Virginia have been canceled Wednesday, due to ongoing poor air quality, according to an announcement on the school district’s website. 

The activities include extracurriculars, interscholastic contests, team practices, after-school programs and recreation programs, the district said.

A statewide Air Quality Advisory has been issued for Ohio as a result of the Canadian wildfires, according to a statement from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The advisory is in effect all of Wednesday. Officials will assess the air quality on Thursday and determine if the advisory needs to be extended, an Ohio EPA spokesperson said.

The air quality is in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” to “unhealthy” ranges, the statement said.

When the quality is in this range, residents in sensitive groups — including children, the elderly and people with asthma — are advised to avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity, it said.

Smoke from Canada’s wildfires has forced the closure of at least three horse racing tracks on the US East Coast.

Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack in Farmington, New York, canceled racing until Monday, according to a message at the top of its website.

Racing has also been canceled at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Delaware, due to air quality for Wednesday and Thursday, its website says.

In Grantville, Pennsylvania, racing was halted for Wednesday due “extremely poor air quality index” at Penn National Race Course, according to its website. 

The New York Racing Association also canceled Thursday’s training at Belmont Park due to “poor air quality conditions” forecast for the state.

A decision on Thursday’s live racing program will be made in the morning following a “review of the air quality conditions and forecast,” the NYRA said.

Training at Saratoga Race Course has also been canceled for Thursday, the association added. 

The thickest smoke from Canada’s wildfires on Wednesday stretched from Lake Ontario to Long Island and was slowly pushing south. It will persist in the New York City metro and across much of New Jersey through Wednesday evening and into the overnight.

But the winds will also start to push that thick band of smoke farther south into the Mid-Atlantic — into cities like Washington, DC, and Baltimore. By Thursday morning, Delaware, Maryland, northern Virginia and the nation’s capital could see some of the worst air quality from the same smoke that plagued New York City on Wednesday.

While Thursday may be an improvement for many in the New York area – there is still likely to be significant smoke, and air quality could be nearing or reaching unhealthy levels yet again.

Unfortunately for those in the Northeast, the weather pattern is not doing any favors. The low pressure that is funneling the smoke into the US is forecast to linger over New England through the weekend, which will mean northwest winds will continue to point the Canadian smoke toward the eastern Great Lakes and Northeast US for the next couple of days.

This pattern could eventually break by next week as a new storm system moves in from the west. Significant rainfall and stronger winds is exactly what the Northeast needs to clear out the smoke.

Unfortunately, the next few months could be a summer of smoke for Canada and the US, with the bulk of Canada’s fire season — which doesn’t typically end until September — still lying ahead.

A hot and dry spring has led to an incredibly active start to the fire season across almost all of Canada – and massive fires in Alberta and Saskatchewan started impacting air quality in the US and Canada back in May.

All of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are experiencing poor air quality from the wildfires burning in Canada, the governor said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said state authorities have been coordinating with Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Health to put out guidance to let people know that to expect over the next few days.

Shapiro said their projections show the air quality may get worse before getting better.  

“We want to encourage people just to be safe,” Shapiro said. “If you do have acute health conditions, be really mindful of your time outside and hopefully this will pass very soon.”

The governor said he does not worry about sending his children to school, but advised that people use “common sense” when making decisions for their families.

 CNN’s Laura Ly contributed reporting to this post.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is among officials encouraging residents to stay inside as poor air quality affects the region.

“It’s either bad or really bad, depending where you are,” Murphy told CNN’s Jake Tapper Wednesday. “We made the decision to close state offices at 3:30 p.m. We’re encouraging, as your colleagues have said, young kids, seniors, anybody with heart of lung issues, to stay inside. If you have to go out, consider wearing a good, snug-fitting N95 mask. We’ve encouraged all schools to suspend outdoor extracurricular activity.”

Murphy said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has limited speed limits to 30 miles per hour on bridges due to poor visibility. 

He said he has a call scheduled with Canadian authorities where he expects to receive more information on the forecast.

“As of a short while ago, of the many hundreds of fires in Canada, I think at least 200 were declared ‘out of control’ so my fear is, and obviously this depends on the wind and which way it’s blowing and all the other factors, my fear is that this could be with us for a while,” Murphy said.

Millions of people in the US are under air quality alerts as smoke from raging Canadian wildfires sweeps down the East Coast. Some schools in New York and Washington are canceling outdoor activities, and airports are facing delays or ground stops due to poor visibility.

The smoke can also cause health problems such as trouble breathing, burning eyes, dizziness, headache or nausea. Doctors say people whose symptoms are getting worse should get medical attention.

Here’s how doctors answered some of the top questions about the smoke:

Why does wildfire smoke make it so difficult to breathe?

Dr. Shilpa Patel, medical director of Children’s National IMPACT DC Asthma Clinic in Washington, explained that wildfire smoke is “small, very tiny particulate matter that goes deep into the airways. It’s not an allergen; it’s an irritant. And so an irritant can affect anyone’s lungs and cause you to start coughing and feeling that throat itchiness.”

Is there any way people can be protected while outside?

Our bodies do come equipped with some natural protection, according to Dr. Aida Capo, a pulmonologist with Hackensack Meridian Palisades Medical Center in New Jersey.

“Our nasal hairs can protect us from a lot of these particles. But these are really small particles from the wildfires, so it’s not enough,” Capo said.

“The recommendation is not to be outside, but if you want to wear a mask to help, absolutely wear one and then make sure it is an N95, not a surgical mask. A surgical mask’s not going to protect you from getting these particles in your airways, because it’s just not quite enough. If you have to be outdoors for an extended length of time, an N95 will decrease some of these small particles in your airways, but they have to be worn appropriately, and it’s hard to wear an N95 for an extended length of time,” she said.

Patel said you should avoid any kind of strenuous physical activity like running or jogging. You should also be in tune with your body throughout the day. The air quality could affect you later “because these are small particulates, so they go deep into your airways, and the response could be a little bit delayed,” Patel said.

What helps air quality indoors?

Close your windows and turn on your air conditioner and air filters, Capo recommends.

Dr. Peter DeCarlo, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, agrees.

“Indoors are generally about half or less the concentration of air pollutants from outside when it comes to particles, which is what we’re concerned with here. And that all goes away as soon as you open your windows and doors and just let free-flowing air come in,” he said.

Read more from doctors.

Major League Baseball postponed two games Wednesday due to the poor air quality across the Northeast.

The league postponed a game scheduled to take place at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia between the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as a game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees that was to be held at Yankee Stadium.

“These postponements were determined following conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts and all of the impacted Clubs regarding clearly hazardous air quality conditions in both cities,” MLB said in a statement.

The Phillies vs. Tigers game is rescheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET Thursday, the league said. The Yankees and White Sox are now scheduled to play a traditional doubleheader game at 4:05 p.m. ET Thursday, according to the MLB.

Around 75 million people are currently under air quality alerts that are directly related to the wildfire smoke that has poured in from Canada, according to a CNN Weather analysis.

The smoke has been widespread and alerts include more than a dozen states in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. 

Cities such as New York, Boston, Washington, DC, Charlotte, Detroit and Indianapolis are included.

Maryland’s governor is asking people to limit spending time outside as a result of poor air quality from wildfires in Canada.

Gov. Wes Moore said the state is under a red alert for air quality, meaning it is at “unhealthy levels for everyone.”

“Marylanders should consider limiting time spent outdoors and avoid prolonged or heavy exertion until air quality improves,” the governor said in a statement Wednesday. “The health and safety of Marylanders is our top priority. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as more information is available.”

People sensitive to air pollution are advised to avoid the outdoors altogether, Moore’s statement said. This includes young children, older adults, residents with respiratory problems or residents with heart conditions.

Actor Jodie Comer halted Wednesday’s matinee of the one-woman Broadway play “Prima Facie” after she had difficulty breathing due to the severe weather conditions in New York City as smoke from the Canadian wildfires engulfs the East Coast.

“Today’s matinee of Prima Facie was halted approximately 10 minutes into the performance after Jodie Comer had difficulty breathing due to the poor air quality in New York City because of smoke from the Canadian wildfires,” Jim Byk, a representative for the show told CNN in a statement Wednesday.

Byk added that Comer’s understudy Dani Arlington took her place on stage and that the matinee has started again from the top.

CNN has reached out to Comer’s representatives for comment.

Some background: Comer is best known for playing the cold-blooded assassin in the award-winning TV series, “Killing Eve.” She was nominated for a Tony award for her performance in “Prima Facie,” which garnered four nominations this year.

The sky over New York City turned orange Wednesday as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted into the US.

Here are a few scenes from the city and surrounding metro area:

Washington, DC, currently has an air quality index (AQI) of 182, which is “unhealthy.”

A dense plume of smoke is moving through the Northeast and is likely to impact the nation’s capital beginning tonight and into Thursday morning.

Take a look at the city as the smoke haze lingers:

A total of 414 fires are still active in Canada, 239 of which are deemed out of control, according to Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair. 

Approximately 3.8 million hectares (about 9.4 million acres) of land has burned in the fires, and an estimated 20,183 people are still evacuated from homes, Blair said in a news briefing in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Critical infrastructure, such as roads, telecommunications and high-voltage power lines, are also impacted, he added.

About 6,500 of those who remain evacuated are from indigenous groups, according to Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked firefighters and first responders, as well as their families, and acknowledged the impact of the wildfire smoke disrupting people’s lives.

Timing of wildfires: Fire season is only beginning in Canada, and generally gets worse in July and into August.

While around a year’s worth of area has already burned in Canada so far (about 15 times more than is typical in early June) the bulk of the season is ahead. It peaks in July and typically lasts until September.

CNN’s Brandon Miller contributed reporting to this post.

Te Federal Aviation Administration lifted a ground stop for flights bound for New York’s LaGuardia Airport due to smoke, but has delayed some flights on the ground. 

Flights into Philadelphia are also being impacted because of the wildfire smoke, the FAA says. It reported the average delay is about a half-hour. A similar delay to the one at LaGuardia is in place in Newark.

“The FAA has slowed traffic to and from the New York City area airports due to reduced visibility from wildfire smoke,” the FAA told CNN in a statement. “The agency will adjust the volume of traffic to account for the rapidly changing conditions.”

As of 2:45 p.m. ET, airlines in the U.S. have canceled 120 flights and delayed another 1,928, according to data from tracking site FlightAware.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the extreme wildfire smoke haze lingering over the Northeast U.S. due to Canadian wildfires could delay flights through Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

No, this isn’t a scene out of a movie about the apocalypse. Here’s what it looks like in midtown Manhattan right now as New York City’s gleaming skyscrapers are obscured by smoke.

The photos and videos out of the Northeast on Wednesday look like scenes from “Mad Max.”

The air is an eerie shade of orange and the visibility is low. Distant buildings that you would otherwise be able to see on a clear day are blotted out by the murky haze.

But why is it orange — and not white, gray or some other color?

Wildfire smoke turns the air orange for the same reason clear air makes the sky look blue — it has to do with what kind of tiny particles are in the air, how many there are and what wavelength color they block.

Think back to the days in school when you learned about ROYGBIV, all the colors of the rainbow. Sunlight contains all of those colors. As it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, the sun’s light hits all of the molecules and particles in the air.

The colors we ultimately see are whatever wavelengths are left over after they’ve interacted with those particles. Wildfire smoke blocks the shorter wavelengths — like yellow, green and blue — leaving just the red and orange to pass through.

This effect is even more pronounced in the morning and evening, when the sun is low in the sky. The light has more atmosphere to pass through before it gets to our eyes, which amplifies the colors and how thick the smoke looks in the air.

Watch a timelapse from the National Weather Service as smoke turns the skies orange in New York City:

As wildfires in Canada blanket Northeast America, an expert recommends some steps to help people protect themselves.

“If you can see or smell smoke, know that you’re being exposed,” said William Barrett, the national senior director of clean air advocacy with the American Lung Association.

“It’s important that you do everything you can to remain indoors during those high, high pollution episodes, and it’s really important to keep an eye on your health or any development of symptoms,” he added.

People who are particularly vulnerable to wildfire smoke include “children, senior citizens, people who are pregnant or people with respiratory or cardiovascular diseases” whose symptoms may worsen or newly develop when exposed to smoke, Barrett noted.

“Really, make sure you take appropriate steps to check in with health care providers about any concerning symptoms that come up during these events,” Barrett said.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Jennifer Gray and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden has been briefed and continues to receive updates on the smoke spreading over parts of the US, including Washington, DC, from wildfires in Canada, a White House official tells CNN. He has received these briefings for a few days.

The White House has been in touch with state and local leaders, including those in Michigan, Illinois and New York, the official said, while the Environmental Protection Agency has been in contact with state and local leaders and tribal governments across the country. The administration has encouraged communities to keep tabs on the latest air quality in their area through the government website AirNow.gov.

The US is also assisting Canada battle the fires, with 600 US firefighters and personnel on hand, the official said, adding that the US has deployed water bombers to help in the efforts. Members of the National Security Council have been in touch with the Canadian government as well.

The extreme smoke haze lingering over the northeastern US could delay flights through Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Wind and haze from Canada’s wildfires have been reported at New York, Philadelphia and DC-area airports, according to the FAA’s daily air traffic report. 

“There are some fires in Canada that have been producing some smoke due to the wind patterns and it is now impacting the northeast of the US,” said FAA’s Sam Ausby in a video posted by the agency on Twitter. “So, from Boston, the New York metro area, Philadelphia and the DC metro area are all experiencing some smoke that could impact travel to the airports.”

As of 12 p.m. ET, airlines in the US have canceled 71 flights and delayed another 1,042, according to tracking site FlightAware.

Aviation weather reports show that Newark Liberty International Airport is among the East Coast airports where visibility is the lowest, at two miles just before noon. Smoke does not necessarily pose a major safety hazard for commercial flights, which can operate normally without visual reference to the ground or horizon.

A number of cities and counties are issuing recommendations for their residents as smoke from Canada’s wildfires impacts regions in the United States. Here’s what we know:

Westchester County, New York: The county that lies just north of New York City has advised all residents “limit any strenuous outdoor activity” and has encouraged those with respiratory conditions or heart disease to stay indoors as much as possible.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The city’s Department of Public Health Communications Director James Garrow warned residents to remain indoors and avoid strenuous outdoor activities, adding that people sensitive to the air quality — including those with heart and lung conditions, pregnant people, and the elderly and very young — may experience more serious health effects. He also encouraged masks for when people need to be outdoors.

New York City: Residents are being urged to stay indoors as air quality continues to deteriorate, the mayor said in a statement Tuesday.

CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia and Liam Reilly contributed reporting to this post.

The latest satellite pictures from NOAA are showing another thick plume of smoke that is leading to level 6 of 6 — “hazardous” air quality in parts of the US.

Syracuse, New York, currently has an air quality index (AQI) of 351, which is considered to be a level 6 of 6 or “hazardous,” where all outdoor physical activity should be avoided.

That thick smoke is drifting south and is expected to worsen air quality this afternoon in places like New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

Air quality currently in the unhealthy range could drop even further into very unhealthy range for periods of time this afternoon and evening.

Cities and metro regions across the northeastern United States are experiencing unhealthy air quality, according to data from the US Air Quality Index, as smoke coming from wildfires in Canada impacts the region. 

Air quality index (AQI) is designed to communicate whether air quality is healthy or unhealthy (above 150).

Major metropolitan cities across Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have AQIs above 150, according to the government website AirNow.gov.

As of Wednesday morning, the following cities have AQIs classified as unhealthy:

Philadelphia residents were warned to remain indoors and avoid strenuous outdoor activities due to the air quality, the city’s Department of Public Health Communications Director James Garrow told CNN, adding that people sensitive to the air quality — including those with heart and lung conditions, pregnant people, and the elderly and very young — may experience more serious health effects.

He also encouraged masks for when people need to be outdoors.

Poor air quality in New York City from wildfires in Canada “has never impacted us on this scale before,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference Wednesday. 

The air quality in New York City Tuesday was the worst air quality in the city since the 1960s, according to New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Ashwin Vasan.

Officials recommended New Yorkers use a high-quality mask if they have to be outside. 

Conditions are expected to deteriorate further Wednesday afternoon and evening, but are anticipated to improve later Wednesday night through Thursday morning, Adams said. 

New York City is not seeing an uptick in emergency room visits due to complications from the air quality, Vasan said, but he warned that could change.

Advisory will likely be around for days: The city’s air quality health advisory will be extended to at least midnight Wednesday and likely into the next couple of days, according to NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol.

“We expect this to be a multiple-day event, so we expect that that advisory to remain in place for the next few days,” he said.

Smoke is notoriously difficult to forecast, Iscol said.

Human-caused climate change has exacerbated the hot and dry conditions that allow wildfires to ignite and grow. Scientists recently reported that millions of acres scorched by wildfires in the western US and Canada — an area roughly the size of South Carolina — could be traced back to carbon pollution from the world’s largest fossil fuel and cement companies.

And when they burn, the smoke can travel thousands of miles downstream, putting millions more people in harm’s way.

“Wildfires is very much so a global warming issue,” Glory Dolphin Hammes, CEO of IQAir North America, previously told CNN. “It has very much to do with climate change, which is creating essentially unsafe conditions.”

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Jennifer Gray and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.

The smoke impacting various parts of the US is caused by wildfires raging in Canada.

If you’re just getting caught up today, here’s what you need to know about the blazes:

National Weather Service offices in the Northeast are warning residents about poor air quality caused by smoke from wildfires in Canada.

View forecasts and tips from the NWS below.

Boston:

New York:

Mount Holly, New Jersey, and Philadelphia:

Baltimore and Washington, DC:

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is warning people who are sensitive to the impact of air quality to limit strenuous activities and time outdoors as smoke from Canadian wildfires impacts the state along with other areas in the Northeast, Midwest, and mid-Atlantic regions.

The warning pertains to people with heart or lung disease, as well as the elderly and young, the governor’s office said.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has declared an Air Quality Action Day Wednesday, saying levels of “fine particulates will rise into the unhealthy range for sensitive groups statewide,” the state said in a release 

The statewide alert will likely go into the evening hours, the state said in a release.

Wildfire smoke creates fine particulate matter that can linger in the atmosphere and spread from coast to coast. 

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in large quantities, this microscopic dust is linked to cardiovascular disease also associated with smoking cigarettes.

The EPA measures regional air quality index (AQI) by how hazardous it is to the general public.

As of 9:30 a.m. ET, cities in Ontario have the worst air quality in the world, with AQIs surpassing 400, which is considered hazardous. Philadelphia has an AQI of 173, which is considered unhealthy.

Discover your AQI in this interactive tracker.

As the fires in Quebec continue to burn, the heaviest smoke is forecast to impact the Northeast through the mid-Atlantic and down to the Carolinas on Wednesday. Smoke conditions in those regions could also persist through at least Thursday.

Cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, are expected to see their air quality improve throughout the day.

But the air over Boston, Pittsburgh and Raleigh, North Carolina, is forecast to worsen Wednesday.

Watch more from CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam here:

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02:12 - Source: cnn

New York City residents are being urged to stay indoors as air quality continues to deteriorate due to smoke coming from wildfires in Canada, Mayor Eric Adams said in a late Tuesday statement.

The city’s public schools are open but will be canceling all outdoor activities due to the air-quality alert, the school district said in a statement on its website. 

The city school system has over 2,000 public and charter schools in its system serving over 1 million students.

Separately, at least 10 school districts in central New York state canceled outdoor activities and events Tuesday. The activities included academic, athletic and extracurricular events, while outdoor recess and gym classes were also canceled, school district announcements said.

Detroit was listed in air quality technology company IQAir’s top 10 worst locations for air pollution on Wednesday morning. Chicago’s air quality was moderate on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to remain moderate for the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s air quality was at unhealthy levels, with forecasts showing a slight shift to unhealthy level for sensitive groups – like the elderly, young children and those with respiratory issues – on Tuesday before returning to moderate by Wednesday. The city was under an air quality alert all of Tuesday.

A cold front is expected to move south over the next few days, pushing smoke farther south and east throughout the week.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Jennifer Gray and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.

New York City topped the list of the world’s worst air pollution for parts of Tuesday as harmful smoke wafted south from more than a hundred wildfires burning in Quebec.

The city’s air quality index was above 200 at one point Tuesday night – a level that is “very unhealthy,” according to IQAir. The city had the worst quality of air of any major metropolitan area Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET, according to IQAir.

Later Tuesday night, New York City had the second-worst levels of air pollution in the world after New Delhi, India, IQair reported. Other cities on the list were Doha, Qatar; Baghdad, Iraq; and Lahore, Pakistan.

New York City also briefly topped the list on Tuesday morning.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Jennifer Gray and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.

Smoke from Canada’s fires has periodically engulfed the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for more than a week, raising concerns over the harms of persistent poor air quality.

There are more than 150 active wildfires burning in Quebec this week, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center – more than double the number of fires burning in any other Canadian province.

More than 400 wildfires have ignited across Quebec so far in 2023, twice the average for this time of year. Nearly 9 million acres have been charred by wildfires in Canada so far this year, with nearly half a million acres burned across Quebec alone.

Air quality alerts were in effect across parts of the Northeast and the Midwest on Tuesday as wildfire smoke spread west into Detroit and Chicago.

Wildfire smoke contains very tiny particulate matter, or PM2.5 —the tiniest pollutant — yet also the most dangerous. When inhaled, it can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream. It comes from sources like the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires, and has been linked to a number of health problems including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Jennifer Gray and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.