{"id":6377,"date":"2026-07-16T18:17:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6377"},"modified":"2026-07-16T18:18:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:18:00","slug":"air-quality-plummets-in-20-us-states-as-smoke-from-canadian-wildfires-spreads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6377","title":{"rendered":"Air quality plummets in 20 US states as smoke from Canadian wildfires spreads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Millions of Americans face air quality alerts from Minnesota to New York as authorities urge people to stay indoors<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Smoke from wildfires burning in south-central\u00a0Canada and parts of Minnesota<\/a>\u00a0is spreading across the US, prompting air quality alerts in more than 20 states with millions of Americans expected to face unhealthy air conditions this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smoke from the more than 180<\/a> active wildfires in northern Ontario<\/a> made Chicago\u2019s air quality the worst in the world<\/a> on Thursday evening, followed by Detroit and Minneapolis, according to IQAir\u2019s global rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smoke has spread across several US states, from Minnesota, where\u00a0multiple wildfires are also burning,<\/a>\u00a0to New York state, blanketing the skies in haze and worsening air quality.

In New York<\/a> City, where the sky was tinged with an orange haze and the air smelled acrid, local officials urged residents to limit their outdoor time and cautioned elderly people, pregnant women and people with other risk factors, such as \u200bheart and lung disease, to remain inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday is expected to be the worst day of this event,\u201d said Zohran Mamdani, New York City\u2019s mayor, at a gathering on Thursday. \u201cAt \u2018unhealthy\u2019 levels, everyone \u2013 not just people with asthma or heart conditions, not just older adults \u2013 everyone may feel health effects. So today, every New \u2060Yorker should take precautions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa)\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that winds carried smoke from the Ontario fires \u201cprimarily south-east over much of the southern part of the province, as well as parts of Quebec and the US midwest and north-east, tinting the sky shades of gray and yellow and the sun orange in many areas\u201d.

As of Thursday, air quality alerts have been issued for parts of\u00a0North Carolina<\/a>,\u00a0Minnesota<\/a>,\u00a0Vermont<\/a>,\u00a0Connecticut<\/a>,\u00a0New York<\/a>,\u00a0Massachusetts<\/a>,\u00a0Rhode Island<\/a>,\u00a0New Jersey<\/a>,\u00a0New Hampshire<\/a>,\u00a0Pennsylvania<\/a>,\u00a0Illinois,\u00a0<\/a>Indiana<\/a>,\u00a0Ohio<\/a>,\u00a0Delaware<\/a>,\u00a0West Virginia<\/a>,\u00a0Colorado<\/a>,\u00a0Virginia<\/a>,\u00a0Maryland<\/a>,\u00a0Washington DC<\/a>,\u00a0Michigan<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Wisconsin<\/a>.

According to a map of air quality conditions<\/a> provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency, air quality was at \u201cunhealthy\u201d levels on Thursday in parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Michigan, with officials urging residents to \u201ctake precautions by reducing outdoor activity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday afternoon, the air quality was rated as \u201cvery unhealthy\u201d in parts of\u00a0Pennsylvania<\/a>, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana, while in certain parts of Pennsylvania, Michigan, including near Detroit, as well as areas of Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the air quality was listed as \u201chazardous\u201d, with officials urging residents there to stay indoors.

The National Weather Service in Detroit\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday that \u201csmoke is expected to be most dense this afternoon and tonight with reduced visibilities\u201d.

In New York, officials extended<\/a> the city\u2019s heat emergency plan operations, including the opening of hundreds of cooling centers, as \u201chigh temperatures and heat indices continue and smoke from significant, still-spreading wildfires in western Ontario, Canada, moves into the region\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathy Hochul, New York\u2019s governor, announced that more than 100,000<\/a> N95-style masks were being made available to counties in need, with additional masks being made available for commuters at Penn Station and Grand Central.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York officials also warned <\/a>that this could become New York City\u2019s \u201cmost significant smoke event\u201d since 2023, when smoke from Canadian wildfires pushed air quality to hazardous levels<\/a> and blanketed the city in an orange haze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While officials said that this week\u2019s conditions currently \u201cdo not indicate a repeat of 2023\u2019s peak levels\u201d, authorities said that they were closely monitoring for any deterioration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weather officials in New York City\u00a0said on Thursday<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cwildfire smoke will continue to reduce visibility and air quality through this evening\u201d.skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>

The air quality alert for New York remains in effect until midnight<\/a> on Thursday, and rain is expected on Saturday,<\/a> ahead of Sunday\u2019s highly anticipated World Cup final in New Jersey<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Buffalo, New York, the air quality was expected to be in the \u201cvery unhealthy\u201d category on Thursday,\u00a0forecasters said.<\/a>

In Boston, forecasters\u00a0warned on<\/a>\u00a0Thursday that \u201csmoky skies are again expected today, which will reduce air quality\u201d.

Ed Markey, the Massachusetts senator, said<\/a> that the smoke is \u201cdarkening skies and getting in our lungs across the state\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith a record El Ni\u00f1o forecast for this year, we are looking at more wildfire smoke days ahead,\u201d he added. \u201cThe climate crisis is here and it does not stop at our borders. Stay safe, Massachusetts<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Washington DC, weather officials told residents <\/a>to \u201cexpect more Canadian wildfire smoke to overspread the area leading to a camp fire smell in the air & some visibility reductions overnight-Friday\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, forecasters warned that smoky conditions were expected to persist into Friday and potentially into the weekend. In Virginia, forecasters said<\/a> on Thursday that \u201cadditional waves of smoke from Ontario, Canada, wildfires will push south into the area through Friday\u201d, which will create \u201chazy conditions with diminished air quality\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Michigan, smoke is expected to continue through Friday,<\/a> and perhaps linger across parts of the area into Saturday, and Ohio is also expected to see smoky conditions continue through Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Indiana, weather officials\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cthe Great Lakes region currently has some of the worst air quality in the world right now due to wildfire smoke\u201d.

Reprinted from The Guardian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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