June 7, 2023 Canada wildfire smoke and US air quality news

Poor air quality in New York City from wildfires in Canada “has never impacted us on this scale before,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference Wednesday. 

The air quality in New York City Tuesday was the worst air quality in the city since the 1960s, according to New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Ashwin Vasan.

Officials recommended New Yorkers use a high-quality mask if they have to be outside. 

Conditions are expected to deteriorate further Wednesday afternoon and evening, but are anticipated to improve later Wednesday night through Thursday morning, Adams said. 

New York City is not seeing an uptick in emergency room visits due to complications from the air quality, Vasan said, but he warned that could change.

Advisory will likely be around for days: The city's air quality health advisory will be extended to at least midnight Wednesday and likely into the next couple of days, according to NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol.

“We expect this to be a multiple-day event, so we expect that that advisory to remain in place for the next few days,” he said.

Smoke is notoriously difficult to forecast, Iscol said.

Human-caused climate change has exacerbated the hot and dry conditions that allow wildfires to ignite and grow. Scientists recently reported that millions of acres scorched by wildfires in the western US and Canada — an area roughly the size of South Carolina — could be traced back to carbon pollution from the world’s largest fossil fuel and cement companies.

And when they burn, the smoke can travel thousands of miles downstream, putting millions more people in harm’s way.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Jennifer Gray and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.

The smoke impacting various parts of the US is caused by wildfires raging in Canada.

If you're just getting caught up today, here's what you need to know about the blazes:

National Weather Service offices in the Northeast are warning residents about poor air quality caused by smoke from wildfires in Canada.

View forecasts and tips from the NWS below.

Boston:

New York:

Mount Holly, New Jersey, and Philadelphia:

Baltimore and Washington, DC:

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is warning people who are sensitive to the impact of air quality to limit strenuous activities and time outdoors as smoke from Canadian wildfires impacts the state along with other areas in the Northeast, Midwest, and mid-Atlantic regions.

The warning pertains to people with heart or lung disease, as well as the elderly and young, the governor’s office said.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has declared an Air Quality Action Day Wednesday, saying levels of “fine particulates will rise into the unhealthy range for sensitive groups statewide,” the state said in a release 

The statewide alert will likely go into the evening hours, the state said in a release.

Wildfire smoke creates fine particulate matter that can linger in the atmosphere and spread from coast to coast. 

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in large quantities, this microscopic dust is linked to cardiovascular disease also associated with smoking cigarettes.

The EPA measures regional air quality index (AQI) by how hazardous it is to the general public.

As of 9:30 a.m. ET, cities in Ontario have the worst air quality in the world, with AQIs surpassing 400, which is considered hazardous. Philadelphia has an AQI of 173, which is considered unhealthy.

Discover your AQI in this interactive tracker.

As the fires in Quebec continue to burn, the heaviest smoke is forecast to impact the Northeast through the mid-Atlantic and down to the Carolinas on Wednesday. Smoke conditions in those regions could also persist through at least Thursday.

Cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, are expected to see their air quality improve throughout the day.

But the air over Boston, Pittsburgh and Raleigh, North Carolina, is forecast to worsen Wednesday.

Watch more from CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam here:

New York City residents are being urged to stay indoors as air quality continues to deteriorate due to smoke coming from wildfires in Canada, Mayor Eric Adams said in a late Tuesday statement.

The city's public schools are open but will be canceling all outdoor activities due to the air-quality alert, the school district said in a statement on its website. 

The city school system has over 2,000 public and charter schools in its system serving over 1 million students.

Separately, at least 10 school districts in central New York state canceled outdoor activities and events Tuesday. The activities included academic, athletic and extracurricular events, while outdoor recess and gym classes were also canceled, school district announcements said.

Detroit was listed in air quality technology company IQAir’s top 10 worst locations for air pollution on Wednesday morning. Chicago’s air quality was moderate on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to remain moderate for the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s air quality was at unhealthy levels, with forecasts showing a slight shift to unhealthy level for sensitive groups – like the elderly, young children and those with respiratory issues – on Tuesday before returning to moderate by Wednesday. The city was under an air quality alert all of Tuesday.

A cold front is expected to move south over the next few days, pushing smoke farther south and east throughout the week.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Jennifer Gray and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.