2 days ago
Canadian Wildfire Smoke: New York City Faces Air Quality Advisory for Second Day in a Row
New York City and other parts of the Northeast were placed under air quality alerts for the second day in a row as smoke from the wildfires burning in Canada again brings hazardous conditions to the region.
New York City was placed under an air quality health advisory over the weekend. AFP via Getty Images
New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley will all experience air quality within the 101-150 range on the air quality index Sunday, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation forecasted—meaning the air could contain fine particles and could be 'unhealthy for sensitive groups.'
Sensitive groups include very young children and adults with preexisting conditions like asthma and heart disease, the New York State Department of Health said, recommending these individuals limit 'strenuous outdoor physical activity.'
The state issued an Air Quality Health Advisory on Saturday afternoon as smoke began blanketing the region, and extended the warning through Sunday evening at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Parts of New Jersey, New England and Quebec could also experience similar air quality conditions, according to online tracker IQAir.
120. That was the air quality reading for New York City as of around 11 a.m. EDT on Sunday morning—the eighth worst among major cities in the world, according to IQAir, and the worst in North America. Key Background
The smoke blanketing the Northeast over the weekend is primarily the result of massive wildfires burning in Canada. Over 3,300 have burned over 5.6 million hectares across Canada year-to-date, according to the Canadian Interagency Fire Centre's most recent report. Canada has suffered from severe wildfires since a record-breaking 2023 wildfire season, when fires burning in Quebec blanketed New York City in an orange haze. Earlier this month, a group of Republican members of Congress from Wisconsin and Minnesota wrote to Ambassador Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., asking the country for more information about how it planned to combat the fires and implying a 'lack of active forest management' played a role in exacerbating the situation. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, the leader of the Canadian province where wildfires forced thousands to evacuate and trapped and killed two people in a rural area in May, criticized the group as 'ambulance chasers' and challenged them to visit and support the American firefighters involved in battling the blazes on the Canadian side of the border.
The air quality readings in New York this weekend are just a fraction of what was recorded in 2023, when readings spiked above 400—a level considered hazardous for the entire population.
