Air Quality Improves in Northeast US as Smoke Dissipates South

After two days immersed in a thick haze of particles of smokeCities like New York and Washington woke up this Friday with moderate air quality while the cloud from the fires in Canada continues to disperse to the south.

According to the country’s National Weather Service, this Friday the smoke is expected to continue affecting regions from the Great Lakes to the Mid-Atlantic with reduced air quality.

Poor air quality is expected to affect several southern cities including St. Louis, Missouri and Louisville today.

Meanwhile, the main cities on the east coast of the country, such as New York and Washington, register “moderate” air quality levels after two days on alert for unhealthy air that has affected some 75 million people, with the worst levels pollution recorded in decades.

The smoke that has been choking millions of people in North America for days is the result of 441 forest fires that are currently active in Canada, a number much higher than normal due to the effects of the climate crisis.

Since January, the flames have burned 3.8 million hectares of forest and vegetation in Canada when the average number in the last decade had been 250,000 hectares.

According to the mayor of the US capital, Muriel Bowserthis Friday the alert was reduced to “code orange”, with unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups.

“It is expected to improve by Saturday. We urge residents and visitors to follow precautions“, he claimed.

In New York, public schools remained closed today, with students following classes remotely, as authorities continue to advise citizens to monitor air quality levels and to stay indoors and limit their outdoor activities.

After what happened, the governor of the state of New York, Kathy Hochul, said that the state will manufacture one million N95 masks so that the population can be prevented from similar events.

Exposure to smoke from wildfires can cause a number of health problems, including elevated pulse, chest pain, and swelling in the eyes, nose, and throat.

Canadian authorities have claimed the country is bracing for its worst ever bushfire season.

US President Joe Biden offered help this week to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The US has already deployed more than 600 firefighters to help battle the flames in Canada since May.

Smoke from the fires, which was visibly detected by NASA satellites, has even been detected in Norway, according to Norwegian scientists.

In recent days, plumes of smoke have spread from Canada through Greenland, Iceland and on to Norway, according to scientists from the Norwegian Institute for Climate and Environmental Research (NILU).

The smoke can also be felt by the population, but it is not potentially dangerous to health.

Source: EFE