Schools on the U.S. East Coast canceled outdoor activities, slowed air traffic and officials told millions of Americans to stay home on Wednesday as smoke from Canadian fires moved south. which was covering the cities in thick. Yellow Haze.
The US National Weather Service issued an Air Quality Alert for virtually the entire Atlantic Coast. Health officials from Vermont to South Carolina and as far west as Ohio and Kansas have warned residents that spending time outside can cause respiratory problems due to high levels of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere.
“It is critical that Americans facing dangerous air pollution, especially those with health concerns, listen to local officials,” President Joe Biden said on Twitter.
AccuWeather, the United States’ private weather forecasting service, said the thick haze and soot that spread from high ground to ground level was the worst plume of wildfire smoke to cover the northeastern United States in more than 20 years. There was an outbreak.
The famous silhouette of the New York skyline, normally visible for miles, disappeared in an ethereal veil of smoke that some residents said made them feel sick.
“It’s hard for me to breathe,” said Mohammed Abbas as he walked down Broadway in Manhattan. “I had an appointment for my driving test to get my license today, and they canceled it.”
The smoky air was especially hard on people working outside, like Chris Ricciardi, owner of Neighbor NV Landscaping in Roxbury, New Jersey. Ricciardi and his team have reduced working hours and are wearing the masks they use to battle the abundant pollen.
“We can’t stop working. We want to keep our smoke exposure to a minimum, but what can you do?”
Angel Emmanuel Ramirez, 29, a fashion stylist at a Givenchy outlet in Manhattan, said he and his co-workers started feeling sick and closed the store when they noticed the smell of smoke was spreading.
“It’s so intense that one would say the fire is on the other side of the river and not in Canada,” Ramirez said.
New York Governor Cathy Hochul called the situation an “emergency crisis”, noting that air pollution rates in some areas of her state were eight times higher than normal.
Reduced visibility from the haze forced the Federal Aviation Administration to slow air traffic from the East Coast and other parts of the upper Midwest to the New York and Philadelphia area, with flight delays an average of half an hour.
East Coast schools have suspended outdoor activities including sports, field trips and recess.
A Broadway matinee performance of “Prima Facie” was interrupted after 10 minutes when actress Jodie Comer had difficulty breathing due to poor air quality. The show resumes with Dani Arlington in the role of Tessa, a production spokesperson said in a statement.
Even Major League Baseball was affected, as the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies postponed home games scheduled for Wednesday. A National Women’s Soccer League game in Harrison, New Jersey, was also postponed, as was a WNBA women’s basketball game in Brooklyn.
In some areas, the air quality index (ICA), which measures key pollutants including particulates generated by fires, was above 400, according to AirNow, which sets 100 as “unhealthy” and 300 as “hazardous”.
As of noon (1600 GMT), Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s air quality index was the worst in the country with an AQI reading of 410. Among large cities, New York had the highest AQI in the world on Wednesday afternoon with 342, nearly double the rate of older polluted cities such as Dubai (168) and Delhi (164), according to IQAir.
Smoke drifted from Canada to the US border, where hundreds of fires have burned 3.8 million acres and forced 120,000 people from their homes in an unusually early and rapid start to the fire season.
Skies grew increasingly hazy throughout Wednesday in New York and several other North American cities, with an ominous hue of yellow visible through the smoky treetops. The air smelled of burnt wood.
Smoke from fires has been linked with higher rates of heart attack and stroke, increased emergency room visits for asthma and other respiratory conditions, eye irritation, itchy skin and rashes, among other problems.
