The air quality in New York City and Washington worsened on Sunday to unhealthy for sensitive groups, as smoke and haze from the worst Canadian wildfires on record linger over the Northeastern US.
(Bloomberg) — The air quality in New York City and Washington worsened on Sunday to unhealthy for sensitive groups, as smoke and haze from the worst Canadian wildfires on record linger over the Northeastern US.
The smog, while not as intense as last week, is forecast to linger until Monday when rain showers move in and help cleanse the air.
“It’s come back in,” Jim Connolly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Upton, New York, said by phone. “You can see the haze out there.”
After a brief reprieve on Saturday in which much of the Northeast got a few hours of clear skies and clean air, the air quality started to deteriorate, falling to moderate in many regions by Sunday, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow map. Pockets including Washington and New York, which last week briefly became the most polluted major city in the world, worsened still.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, which covers nine counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, issued an air quality alert Sunday for metro Philadelphia.
Wildfires have become more common as climate change leads to hotter summers that make forests more vulnerable to blazes. It’s one more indicator that extreme temperatures are making the planet less hospitable, with drought, stronger hurricanes and heat waves becoming more severe.
Read more: Wildfire Smoke Increases the Risk of Contracting Covid-19
The haze in the eastern US will likely remain until a storm pushing east from the Midwest arrives Monday evening to drive out the smoke and deliver up to two inches of precipitation. Rain is also expected on Tuesday over northwestern Quebec, which could help firefighters battling massive wildfires that have raged for many days.
“That will wash out some of the smokiness,” said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the US Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
–With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan.
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