Air quality index NYC: Smoke eases over New York and other US cities but wildfires still major threat in Canada
The smoke has shifted south and west in the US impacting cities like Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Cleveland after enveloping New York for days Smoky haze from wildfires in Canada engulfed New York City on Wednesday Smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada reached Europe on Friday after blanketing provinces and large parts of the United States in thick smoke this week. And while the noxious smoke was finally easing over the northeast on Friday, the fires still posed a major threat. More than 420 fires are raging across Canada from British Columbia in the west to Nova Scotia in the east. At least half of these fires are burning out of control, and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes. While air quality improved in large cities like New York , Washington DC and Philadelphia on Friday, pollution increased across central and southern states including the cities of Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Global temperature rise, caused by emissions from burning fossil fuels, is leading to more large, erratic wildfires around the world. And its a vicious circle: the emissions pumped into the atmosphere by fires add to global heating, further drying out the land and vegetation, making it more susceptible to catching fire. An icon from the world of sports brought some much-needed levity to raising awareness about dangerous air quality in the US Northeast this week. Under a sky thick with smoke, Gritty, the official mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers National Hockey League (NHL) team, posed up in Washington DC on Thursday with the US Forest Services icon of wildfire prevention, Smokey Bear. US meteorologists have announced the return of the weather cycle El Nino , which could lead to record global temperatures in the next couple of years. After three years of the cooler La Nina pattern, which often lowers global temperatures slightly, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday that El Nino conditions were present and are expected to gradually strengthen into the winter. Read more below on what typically happens during El Nino - and why this time could be different. US meteorologists said on Thursday that El Nino conditions were present and are expected to gradually strengthen into the winter. Thick, smoky air from Canadian wildfires made for days of misery in New York City and across the U.S. Northeast this week. But for much of the rest of the world, breathing dangerously polluted air is an inescapable fact of life and death. Almost the entire world breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organizations air-quality limits at least occasionally. The danger grows worse when that bad air is more persistent than the nightmarish shroud that hit the U.S. usually in developing or newly industrialized nations. Thats where most of the 4.2 million deaths blamed on outdoor air pollution occurred in 2019, the UNs health agency reported. Air pollution has no boundaries, and it is high time everyone comes together to fight it, said Bhavreen Kandhari, the co-founder of Warrior Moms in India, a network of mothers pushing for clean air and climate action in a nation with some of the worlds consistently worst air. What we are seeing in the U.S. should shake us all. This is a severe air pollution episode in the U.S., said Jeremy Sarnat, a professor of environmental health at Emory Universitys Rollins School of Public Health. But its fairly typical for what millions and millions of people experience in other parts of the world. Read more at the link below Thick, smoky air from Canadian wildfires made for days of misery in New York City and across the U.S. Northeast this week A person waiting for the subway wears a filtered mask as smoky haze from wildfires in Canada blankets a neighborhood on June 7, 2023 in the Bronx, New York City A person sells face masks outside a souvenir store in New York on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 People view New York City in a haze-filled sky from the Empire State Building observatory, on Wednesday Plumes from the Canadian fires drift over the East Coast After a smoke-filled few days across large parts of the US, extreme heat is on the way next week, according to the National Weather Service on Friday. The US South is likely to be hit the hardest as temperatures soar into the 90s and low 100s. As wildfires rage in Canada and smoke blankets the eastern US, the climate crisis has moved ever-more-firmly into the present. The air quality in New York City became the worst on the planet. Schools across the eastern US cancelled outdoor activities, flights have been halted, and Broadway stages have gone quiet. Welcome to the apocalyptic haze of the new AbNormal, write climate experts Susan Joy Hassol and Professor Michael E. Mann for The Independent. One of us is haunted by an eerily similar experience during the 2019/2020 black summer of Australia, when that continent was set ablaze by an unprecedented combination of record heat and drought. And just as was the case then, and again during the western US wildfires of summer 2020, the fossil fuel industry-coddling conservative media in particular the Murdoch media empire engaged in a massive disinformation campaign to convince us that its natural. Or a result of forest management policies. Or arson. Anything to draw our attention from the real culprit the incendiary combination of greater summer heat and worse summer drought that is a direct result of fossil fuel burning and the warming of our planet. You can read more of their piece at the link below The current wildfires are a preview of far worse things to come, write climate experts, Susan Joy Hassol and Professor Michael E. Mann Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Smoke from Canadas extreme wildfires has traveled to Europe NILU Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Log in New to The Independent? Or if you would prefer: Want an ad-free experience? Hi {{indy.fullName}}