(CNN) — New York City topped the list of the world’s most air polluted places Tuesday morning as smoke from more than 100 Quebec wildfires moved south.
Smoke from the Canadian fires regularly blanketed the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for more than a week, raising concerns about the effects of persistent poor air quality. New York City’s air quality index topped 150 on Tuesday, according to IQaira level of pollution that is “unhealthy” for sensitive groups such as the elderly, children and people with respiratory problems.
New York City was still among the top five with the most polluted air in the world on Tuesday afternoon, IQair reported, along with Dhaka in Bangladesh; Jakarta, in Indonesia; and New Delhi, the capital of India.
Smoke from wildfires contains very small particles, or PM2.5, the smallest but also the most dangerous pollutant. When inhaled, it can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream. It comes from sources like burning fossils, dust storms, and wildfires, and has been linked to a host of health problems including asthma, heart disease, and respiratory disorders.
Millions of people die every year from health problems related to air pollution. In 2016, about 4.2 million premature deaths were associated with those fine particlesaccording to the World Health Organization (WHO).
This Tuesday, the concentration of PM2.5 in the air of New York City exceeded the guideline established by the WHO by more than 10 times.
“If you can see or smell the smoke, you should know you’re exposed,” said William Barrett, senior national director of clean air advocacy for the American Lung Association. “And it’s important that you do as much as possible to stay indoors during those high pollution episodes, it’s really important to pay attention to your health and any development of symptoms.”
This is what a park in Brooklyn, New York City, looked like on Tuesday morning. Air pollution levels were unhealthy for sensitive groups due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires.
Barrett said that people particularly vulnerable to wildfire smoke “are children, the elderly, pregnant people, or people with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions,” whose symptoms may worsen or develop again when exposed to smoke.
“Make sure you take appropriate action and consult with healthcare providers about any concerning symptoms that arise during these times,” Barrett said.
There were more than 150 active wildfires in Quebec this week, according to the Canadian Interagency Wildfire Center; more than twice the number of fires in any other Canadian province.
So far in 2023 there have been more than 400 wildfires across Quebec, which is twice the average for this time of year. Nearly 4 million hectares have been charred by wildfires in Canada so far this year, with more than 200,000 hectares burned in Quebec alone.
Air quality advisories were in effect for parts of the Northeast and Midwestern United States on Tuesday as smoke from the wildfires billowed west toward Detroit and Chicago.
“Weather conditions are such that widespread ozone or particulate matter levels are expected to be above the unhealthy category for sensitive groups on the air quality index,” the National Weather Service in Chicago said. “Active children and adults, especially people with lung or respiratory conditions such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor activity.”
Detroit appeared on the list of the 10 worst places for air pollution according to IQair on Tuesday afternoon. Chicago air quality was moderate Tuesday afternoon and is expected to remain moderate for the next few days.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s air quality was at unhealthy levels, with forecasts showing a slight change to an unhealthy level for sensitive groups on Tuesday, before moderating again on Wednesday. The city is currently under an air quality alert that was in effect through Tuesday.
Parts of New York and New England will also remain under air quality alert Tuesday, including most of New York state and all of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont. Cities including Baltimore, Boston, Hartford, Providence and Montpelier in Vermont are forecast to have air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups on Tuesday.
A cold front is expected to move to the south over the next several days, carrying smoke to the south and east throughout the week.
Human-caused climate change has exacerbated the hot, dry conditions that allow the outbreak and increase in the number of wildfires. Scientists recently reported that wildfires in the western US and Canada that have burned millions of acres, an area roughly the size of South Carolina, could be attributed to carbon pollution from larger cement and fossil fuel companies. greats of the world
And when they burn, the smoke can travel thousands of miles downstream, endangering millions more.
“Forest fires are very much a global warming problem,” said previously to CNN Glory Dolphin Hammes, CEO of IQAir North America. “They have a lot to do with climate change, which is creating essentially unsafe conditions.”
CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Jennifer Gray and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.
2023-06-06 00:39:00
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