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Smoke from wildfires burning in south-central Canada and parts of Minnesota is 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.
The smoke from the more than 180 active wildfires in northern Ontario made Chicago’s air quality the worst in the world on Thursday evening, followed by Detroit and Minneapolis, according to IQAir’s global rankings.
The smoke has spread across several US states, from Minnesota, where multiple wildfires are also burning, to New York state, blanketing the skies in haze and worsening air quality.
In New York 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 heart and lung disease, to remain inside.
“Today is expected to be the worst day of this event,” said Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s mayor, at a gathering on Thursday. “At ‘unhealthy’ levels, everyone – not just people with asthma or heart conditions, not just older adults – everyone may feel health effects. So today, every New Yorker should take precautions.”
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) said that winds carried smoke from the Ontario fires “primarily 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”.
As of Thursday, air quality alerts have been issued for parts of North Carolina, Minnesota, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Delaware, West Virginia, Colorado, Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, Michigan and Wisconsin.
According to a map of air quality conditions provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency, air quality was at “unhealthy” levels on Thursday in parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Michigan, with officials urging residents to “take precautions by reducing outdoor activity”.
On Thursday afternoon, the air quality was rated as “very unhealthy” in parts of Pennsylvania, 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 “hazardous”, with officials urging residents there to stay indoors.
The National Weather Service in Detroit warned on Thursday that “smoke is expected to be most dense this afternoon and tonight with reduced visibilities”.
In New York, officials extended the city’s heat emergency plan operations, including the opening of hundreds of cooling centers, as “high temperatures and heat indices continue and smoke from significant, still-spreading wildfires in western Ontario, Canada, moves into the region”.
Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor, announced that more than 100,000 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.
New York officials also warned that this could become New York City’s “most significant smoke event” since 2023, when smoke from Canadian wildfires pushed air quality to hazardous levels and blanketed the city in an orange haze.
While officials said that this week’s conditions currently “do not indicate a repeat of 2023’s peak levels”, authorities said that they were closely monitoring for any deterioration.
Weather officials in New York City said on Thursday that “wildfire smoke will continue to reduce visibility and air quality through this evening”.
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The air quality alert for New York remains in effect until midnight on Thursday, and rain is expected on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s highly anticipated World Cup final in New Jersey.
In Buffalo, New York, the air quality was expected to be in the “very unhealthy” category on Thursday, forecasters said.
In Boston, forecasters warned on Thursday that “smoky skies are again expected today, which will reduce air quality”.
Ed Markey, the Massachusetts senator, said that the smoke is “darkening skies and getting in our lungs across the state”.
“With a record El Niño forecast for this year, we are looking at more wildfire smoke days ahead,” he added. “The climate crisis is here and it does not stop at our borders. Stay safe, Massachusetts.”
In Washington DC, weather officials told residents to “expect more Canadian wildfire smoke to overspread the area leading to a camp fire smell in the air & some visibility reductions overnight-Friday”.
Elsewhere, forecasters warned that smoky conditions were expected to persist into Friday and potentially into the weekend. In Virginia, forecasters said on Thursday that “additional waves of smoke from Ontario, Canada, wildfires will push south into the area through Friday”, which will create “hazy conditions with diminished air quality”.
In Michigan, smoke is expected to continue through Friday, and perhaps linger across parts of the area into Saturday, and Ohio is also expected to see smoky conditions continue through Friday.
In Indiana, weather officials said that “the Great Lakes region currently has some of the worst air quality in the world right now due to wildfire smoke”.
Reuters contributed reporting
