New York City air quality is dropping as Canadian forest-fire smoke swirls down the Hudson River, shrouding much of the eastern half of the continent in a haze.
Air-quality alerts have been posted in New York City, with 740 fires raging across Canada from the Arctic Circle to southern Ontario. In the US, the warnings reach from Minnesota to Maine, while in Canada bulletins have been posted from the Northwest Territories to Quebec.
Air quality in New York is moderate and will likely get worse through the day, becoming unhealthy for sensitive groups, according the National Weather Service. Conditions in Toronto, Canada’s most populous city, are unhealthy in many areas, as well as in Detroit and parts of Chicago, AirNow.gov said.
“Wisconsin all the way into Maine, there is a big chunk of unhealthy air,” said Joshua Weiss, a forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. “At least through the middle of the week we are going to have a pretty stagnant pattern, so the smoke is going to stick around.”
The smoke from large wildfires raises health risks and has been blamed for hastening the melting of Arctic ice, since the soot absorbs more heat. In recent years, the plumes have drifted into US cities, most notably New York and San Francisco, turning skies orange and driving residents indoors to escape the irritants floating in the atmosphere.
More than 200 of the Canadian wildfires are out of control, many in areas where it’s difficult for firefighting crews to access them. The blazes have also threatened Canada’s energy infrastructure, primarily in Alberta.
There is a weather pattern building that should shift the winds later this week, Weiss said, blowing the smoke primarily back into Canada by Thursday and Friday.
