The Northeast Is Wrapped in Smoke from Canada’s Wildfires

Noxious smoke wild fire in Canada is covering much of the Midwest and Northeast this week, prompting cities in the region to issue air warnings.

The amount of smoke means that even healthy adults would do well to take precautions to protect their health. The increase in wildfires across the country – a result of climate change – means that even areas that are not burning will still suffer from the effects.

More than 100 fires have been burning across Canada since Wednesday, with hundreds more being monitored or fought. The smoke has moved south and east, and the sky has darkened from Minnesota to New York. Spectacular images have been seen from Toronto, where commuters went to work on Wednesday morning under an orange sky. The region also experiences extreme heat, with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit in many places and extreme temperatures.

Wednesday evening, a air quality index in New York City it scored 180, placing the city’s air quality squarely in the “unhealthy” category as defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Some places were worse, with Duluth, Minnesota, seeing an AQI above 500 (anything above 301 is considered “hazardous” and considered unsafe for anyone). Smog conditions are expected to intensify in parts of the northeastern US on Thursday, including New York.

The smoke in the area contains tiny, invisible particles called PM2.5 – shorthand for particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres, or 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Exposure to PM2.5 can cause or worsen a number of diseases, especially in vulnerable populations. Nicholas Nassikas, a pulmonologist and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, says he tells his patients with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma and lung disease, to limit their time outside where there is smoke. Children “breathe faster—they just breathe more,” says Nassikas, while the elderly, who often have more severe conditions and may be in poorly ventilated homes and large spaces, are also at risk.

Jennifer Stowell, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, said that even healthy adults may need to be careful on days when the air quality index exceeds 100. She says. If you have to be outside for long periods of time, Stowell recommends wearing an N95 mask. Stowell, who is based in Boston, where the AQI hit 110 on Wednesday, said he wasn’t planning to go outside until the evening.

Dan Westervelt, an associate professor of climate science at Columbia University, is also cautious. “I will make sure that my children stay in the house today,” he says. “I won’t be doing any exercise, like running, today or tomorrow.”

Climate change is causing the temperature to rise. This makes the fire season longer and creates more heat, which causes the fire to grow. A learning published last year said that wildfire smoke already causes 40,000 deaths a year in the US, and could double to 70,000 deaths a year by 2050 if warming continues. As the number of days of smoke pollution increases, research into the long-term effects of that smoke is still ongoing. A similar burst of smoke from wildfires in Canada hit the Northeast in 2023.

“Lifetime or long-term exposure to high levels of air pollution has been shown many times in research to cause premature death,” Westervelt said.