Hazardous Smoky Conditions to Last for Days as Canada Wildfires Rage
Weather expected to keep pushing smoke south into U.S.
Swaths of the eastern U.S. face another day of hazardous air conditions, with millions of Americans being advised to stay indoors as the smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to drift south.
Officials from multiple states extended health advisories until at least midnight Thursday, and residents from Massachusetts to North Carolina were advised to limit outdoor activities and mask up.
Dense smoke blanketed populous areas of the eastern U.S., turning the skies above New York City a hazy orange, disrupting air travel and altering school schedules.
Possible rain showers developing later Thursday and Friday in the Northeast and New England could help reduce the pollution, forecasters said, but air quality is expected to stay at unhealthy levels for several days.
“As long as these fires remain active, large and uncontained, there’s going to be continued smoke lofted into the atmosphere,” said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Md.
Several U.S. meteorologists said the weather and wind pattern responsible for pushing the wildfire smoke south from Canada is unlikely to change for the next several days.
Lee Hendricks, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, said a high-pressure system in the West was helping to push smoke south into the U.S. Until the current weather pattern shifts, he said, “nothing is going to significantly improve.”
More than 40 million people live in areas that had air quality rated unhealthy or worse, according to AirNow, a government tracking site. The air-quality reading for the New York City area at one point Wednesday surpassed 400—well into the “hazardous” range that calls for all people to stay inside and reduce physical activity, AirNow said. An air-quality level above 300 is considered hazardous.
The smoky skies and thick air rattled parts of the country unaccustomed to dealing with the lingering effects of widespread wildfires. Officials reported a flood of 911 calls in Pennsylvania and an uptick in emergency-room visits in some parts of New York.
Canada’s wildfire season is off to a blistering start this year, with more than 8.1 million acres of land already burned by early June, according to the country’s natural-resources department. In a typical fire season, about 600,000 acres would have been burned by this point.
Air pollution can be particularly dangerous to children and those with underlying health conditions such as asthma and heart disease.
“We’re experiencing a pretty serious health threat from air pollution across really a wide swath of the U.S.,” said Paul Billings, national senior vice president of public policy at the American Lung Association. “I think the important thing for people to do during this crisis is to take extra care to protect themselves.”
Short-term exposure—a timeline of days to weeks—is associated with increased risk of exacerbating pre-existing respiratory conditions such as asthma, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Such exposure can also lead to coughing and difficulty breathing, as well as reduced lung function, heart attack, stroke and increased risk of emergency-room visits and hospital admissions, the EPA said.