by tyler | Jun 8, 2023 | CNN, weather
From Maryland to the Canadian capital, a monstrous cloud of smoke spewed by Quebec’s wildfires has forced children to stay indoors, grounded flights in New York City and left millions of residents at risk of breathing unhealthy air.
More than 75 million people in the eastern US are under air quality alerts Wednesday due to the smoke, which made iconic skylines disappear behind wafting orange fumes.
The heaviest smoke Wednesday is expected to hit the Northeast through the mid-Atlantic and down to the Carolinas. Smoke conditions in those regions could last through at least Thursday.
As of Wednesday evening, major metro areas such as Philadelphia; Jersey City, New Jersey; and New Haven, Connecticut, had air quality indexes ranging from 200 to 300 – which is considered “very unhealthy,” according to government website AirNow.gov.
New York City had an AQI of 484 at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, which is classified as “hazardous,” Mayor Eric Adams said during a news conference Wednesday. That’s the highest level on record in the city since the 1960s, he said.
Air quality conditions are likely to worsen through 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Wednesday evening before they temporarily improve later in the night and into Thursday morning, the mayor said. However, conditions will deteriorate again on Thursday afternoon and evening “as smoke moves back over the city,” Adams said.
“While there may be potential for significantly improved conditions by Friday morning, smoke predictability that far out is low,” the mayor cautioned. “It’s difficulty to predict the movement of the smoke… This is an unpredictable series of events and we cannot provide guidance more than a day in advance at this point.”
“This is not the day to train for a marathon or to do an outside event with your children. Stay inside, close windows and doors, and use air purifiers if you have them,” Adams said earlier on Wednesday.
Hundreds of miles away, Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland canceled recess and all outdoor activities for Wednesday and Thursday due to the “influx of smoke” outside that could pose a health risk, the school district said.
Professional sports teams postponed several games on Wednesday in cities impacted by the smoke, including two Major League Baseball games scheduled in New York and Philadelphia. And the wildfire smoke also forced the closure of at least three horse racing tracks on the East Coast.
Live updates on the smoke’s spread
And the Canadian capital of Ottawa is getting hit with some of the worst air quality, according to AirNow.gov, a partnership of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday about the ongoing wildfires and air quality impacts, their offices confirmed.
The US has deployed more than 600 firefighters and support personnel as well as other firefighting assets, the White House said Wednesday. Trudeau thanked Biden for the support and cooperation, according to a statement released by Trudeau’s office, and “both leaders acknowledged the need to work together to address the devastating impacts of climate change.”
Interactive: Track the air quality across the US
Philadelphia issued a “code red” alert Wednesday, warning certain residents should stay indoors.
The elderly, young children and those who are pregnant or have heart or lung conditions could experience serious health effects from the smoke, said James Garrow, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
“For those who are not considered to be in a sensitive group, we are asking those folks to avoid strenuous activities outdoors like jogging or exercising,” Garrow told CNN Wednesday.
“We are asking folks to avoid unnecessary time outdoors,” he said. “But if they need to be outdoors, they should be masked and head inside as often as they need.”
The enormous cloud of pollution could cause long-term health effects, depending on the person and amount of exposure, said Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist with NYU Langone Health and Allergy & Asthma Network.
“A healthy person may be able to withstand a day or two without too many issues, but at these levels, even they are at risk,” Parikh said.
“But someone who is vulnerable has much higher risk. Most vulnerable include (the) elderly, children, those with underlying lung issues like asthma, COPD, lung cancer, heart disease and pregnant women.”
If people develop and keep having symptoms after the air quality returns to normal, “then they may have developed asthma or COPD as a result, and that can become chronic,” Parikh said.
Experts say wearing a face mask can help – but the type of mask is important.
“N95s protect very well from the smoke particles, which are the most hazardous component of the smoke,” said Linsey Marr, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech university.
“You may still smell smoke gases through the mask, but it’s still doing its job blocking particles as long as it’s a high-quality mask that fits well,” Marr said.
“You definitely want an N95 or KN95 or KF94 to get the best protection. Surgical and cloth masks will provide a small benefit, better than nothing, but if you really want to protect your health, you should wear a ‘respirator’ such as an N95, KN95, or KF94.”
Air quality in the US Northeast deteriorated this week as more than 150 wildfires keep raging in Quebec, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.
The entire Quebecois town of Chibougamau – population 7,000 – is under a mandatory evacuation order Wednesday as fast-moving wildfires wreak havoc across the region.
“Given the current situation, the mayor of Chibougamau, Manon Cyr, has declared a state of emergency and announced the mandatory evacuation of the entire town, including the resort area,” the town posted on Facebook Tuesday night.
So far this year, Quebec has endured more than 400 wildfires – twice the average for this time of year.
More than 9 million acres have been charred by wildfires in all of Canada this year – about 15 times the normal burned area for this point in the year.
And human-induced climate change has exacerbated the hot and dry conditions that fuel wildfires.
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.
New York City had the worst air pollution of any major city in the world at one point Tuesday night, before dropping to second-worst behind New Delhi, India, according to air quality tracker IQair. The city topped the list again on Wednesday – above Lahore, Pakistan – as air conditions remained hazardous, according to IQair.
The nation’s largest public school district canceled all outdoor activities Wednesday, but will remain open. Mayor Adams said all city events outdoors would be canceled and city beaches will also remain closed.
At least 10 school districts in central New York state canceled outdoor activities and events Tuesday. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Wednesday cities such as Rochester and Syracuse suspended outdoor school activities and urged other cities to “follow suit.”
A school district in Westchester County dismissed all of its students early on Wednesday due to the air quality conditions, according to the Chappaqua Central School District, which serves roughly 4,000 students. And in Monroe County – located northeast of Buffalo – officials closed a zoo and all county parks.
Hochul said the state is making 1 million N95 masks available to the public, calling the air quality “unprecedented” and “a very serious, dangerous situation.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also advised residents to stay indoors, as air quality conditions remain at “unhealthy levels for everyone,” he said in a statement to CNN.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told CNN on Wednesday his administration decided to close state offices at 3:30 p.m. ET and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has limited speeds on to 30 mph on its bridges due to poor visibility.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro said Wednesday that the poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires is affecting all 67 counties across the state. And in Delaware, a code red air quality alert was issued for Wednesday and Thursday throughout the state, and residents were also advised to limit time spent outdoors.
Rhode Island extended the state’s air quality alert through Thursday, citing heavy smoke and unhealthy particles in its air quality forecast.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground stop for flights bound for New York’s LaGuardia Airport due to the smoke.
Flights bound for LaGuardia were kept at their departing airports until 2 p.m. ET, according to an FAA bulletin. The FAA said the chance of an extension is “low,” but delays could follow.
All flights bound for Newark Liberty International Airport were delayed from taking off from their departing airports until 11:59 p.m. ET. An FAA advisory cites “low visibility” as the cause.
Aviation weather reports showed Newark Liberty International Airport is among the East Coast airports where visibility is the lowest – just two miles as of 11:51 a.m. ET.
As of 7:30 p.m. ET, airlines in the US have canceled 149 flights and delayed another 3,992, according to data from tracking site FlightAware.
“Boston, the New York metro area, Philadelphia and the DC metro area are all experiencing some smoke that could impact travel to the airports,” Sam Ausby, an FAA national traffic management officer, said in a video posted on the agency’s Twitter account earlier on Wednesday.
But smoke does not necessarily pose a major safety hazard for commercial flights, which can operate normally without visual reference to the ground or horizon.
Wildfire smoke is particularly dangerous because it contains tiny particulate matter, or PM2.5 – the tiniest of pollutants.
When inhaled, it can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream. It comes from sources like the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires, and has been linked to several health complications including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.
And the impacts could be deadly: In 2016, about 4.2 million premature deaths were associated with fine particulate matter, according to the World Health Organization.
“If you can see or smell smoke, know that you’re being exposed,” said William Barrett, the national senior director of clean air advocacy with the American Lung Association.
“And it’s important that you do everything you can to remain indoors during those high, high pollution episodes, and it’s really important to keep an eye on your health or any development of symptoms.”
by tyler | Jun 8, 2023 | CNN, weather
The photos and videos out of the Northeast look like scenes from “Mad Max,” as a monstrous cloud of smoke spewed by Quebec’s wildfires engulfed communities.
The air is an eerie shade of orange and the visibility is low. Distant buildings that you would otherwise be able to see on a clear day are blotted out by the murky haze.
But why is it orange – and not white, gray or some other color?
Wildfire smoke turns the air orange for the same reason clear air makes the sky look blue – it has to do with what kind of tiny particles are in the air, how many there are and what wavelength color they block.
Think back to the days in school when you learned about ROYGBIV, all the colors of the rainbow. Sunlight contains all of those colors. As it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, the sun’s light hits all of the molecules and particles in the air.
The colors we ultimately see are whatever wavelengths are left over after they’ve interacted with those particles. Wildfire smoke blocks the shorter wavelengths – like yellow, green and blue – leaving just the red and orange to pass through.
This effect is even more pronounced in the morning and evening, when the sun is low in the sky. The light has more atmosphere to pass through before it gets to our eyes, which amplifies the colors and how thick the smoke looks in the air.
Interactive: Track the air quality across the US
Major metro areas had air quality indexes ranging from 200 to 300 – which is considered “very unhealthy,” according to government website AirNow.gov.
The enormous cloud of pollution could cause long-term health effects, depending on the individual and their amount of exposure, experts have warned. And officials have urged many residents to stay indoors. Smoke conditions could last through at least Thursday.
by tyler | Jun 8, 2023 | CNN, weather
Around 75 million people in the US are under air quality alerts directly related to the wildfires raging across Canada, as officials urge people to limit time spent outdoors and mask up for enhanced protection.
Forecasts show the dangerous air conditions could last for days. The weather pattern of low pressure funneling smoke into the US is forecast to linger through the weekend, meaning the Northeast could continue to see smoke for the next couple of days. That pattern could break by next week.
Colossal clouds of heavy smoke from more than 430 active wildfires raging across Canada have descended on parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, enveloping neighborhoods, parks and school grounds in an orange haze filled with possible pollutants.
New York, Charlotte, Detroit, Indianapolis, Delaware, Rhode Island as well as other areas are included in the air quality alerts.
LIVE UPDATES: Millions in US under air quality alerts
Late Wednesday night, the air quality index in New York City topped 320, meaning it was “hazardous” or level 6 of 6, the worst designation from AirNow.gov, an air quality data site maintained in partnership by several government agencies. While New York City saw slight improvements by Thursday, levels are still “very unhealthy” for residents, and the city’s air remains the most polluted in the world. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for flights bound for New York’s LaGuardia airport Thursday, citing low visibility. The agency is warning that airports from New York to Charlotte could see similar ground stops today.
Philadelphia is under a code red warning, and the city’s health department says the elderly, young children and those who are pregnant or have heart or lung conditions could experience serious health effects from the smoke.
“For those who are not considered to be in a sensitive group, we are asking those folks to avoid strenuous activities outdoors like jogging or exercising,” James Garrow, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, told CNN.
The winds are also starting to push the band of smoke farther south into the mid-Atlantic, into cities including Washington, DC, and Baltimore.
Public schools in Yonkers, New York, are closed Thursday. Other school districts in New York, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC, have canceled outdoor activities while New Jersey’s governor encouraged local school districts to do the same.
“It’s either bad or really bad, depending where you are,” Gov. Phil Murphy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday, urging “young kids, seniors, anybody with heart of lung issues, to stay inside. If you have to go out, consider wearing a good, snug-fitting N95 mask.”
Smoke from the wildfires has delivered some of the poorest air quality measures in decades, said Mark Zondlo, an atmospheric chemist specializing in air quality monitoring and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton University.
“What’s making it really unique – aside from the fires being huge by themselves – is the air is staying really close to the ground. So, instead of being wafted up and dispersing throughout the atmosphere or being in the layer 10,000 feet above us, it’s basically hugging the ground, and therefore it’s not dispersing,” Zondlo told CNN.
“The weather pattern is such that it’s funneling that smoke plume, keeping it tight close to the ground, and it’s coming for a bullseye right for us.”
Air quality in Canada has been on the decline as the ferocious blazes trigger evacuation orders, including for about 7,000 people in Quebecois town of Chibougamau.
US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed the wildfires’ impacts on air quality Wednesday, according to a statement from Trudeau’s office.
“Both leaders acknowledged the need to work together to address the devastating impacts of climate change,” the statement read.
Biden has directed federal firefighting resources to aid in stopping the fires, the White House said, adding that more than 600 firefighters and support personnel have already been deployed.
While those conditions persist, experts and officials alike have been urging people to stay indoors as much as possible and wear N95 or KN95 face masks when outside to ensure they’re properly protected.
Wildfires that lead to such poor air quality have become more common and severe as the planet warms from the impacts of human-induced climate change, experts have said.
“We typically see these impacts with wildfires in the Western US and in the Mountain West,” said Dr. Peter DeCarlo, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
“The East Coast is generally a little bit more insulated from this type of thing. Our forests tend to be wetter and don’t burn as much, but looking forward with climate change, while this is kind of a unique experience that we’re seeing right now, it may become a lot less unique and a little bit more common in the future.”
As New York’s air remains compromised, the state is providing one million N95 masks to those who need them, the governor announced Wednesday evening.
About 400,000 of those masks will be distributed at New York state parks and public transit stations, among other locations, Gov. Kathy Hochul said. An additional 600,000 masks will be available at Homeland Security stockpiles for local governments to pick up, she added.
“Simply stay indoors. Outdoors is dangerous in just about every part of our state,” the governor said, calling the poor air quality “unprecedented.”
To that end, outdoor events held by New York City have been canceled, and city beaches will also remain closed, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday.
While conditions may improve overnight into Thursday morning, air quality during the afternoon and evening hours will plummet again, Adams said.
“I want to be clear, while there may be potential for significantly improved conditions by Friday morning, smoke predictability that far out is low, (it) is difficult to predict the movement of the smoke. …This is an unpredictable series of events,” he added.
by tyler | Jun 7, 2023 | CNN, weather
Here is a look at the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.
Past coverage of the 2022 and 2021 hurricane season and the latest weather news can also be found on CNN.
Follow the storm tracker for the path and forecasts of the latest storm.
The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. The areas covered include the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
The National Weather Service defines a hurricane as a “tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 74 mph (64 knots) or higher.”
Hurricanes are rated according to intensity of sustained winds on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The 1-5 scale estimates potential property damage.
A Category 3 or higher is considered a major hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center advises preparedness:
April 13, 2023 – The Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project team predicts a “slightly below-normal” Atlantic hurricane season. The team forecasts 13 named storms, including six hurricanes, two of which will be major hurricanes.
May 25, 2023 – The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts a 40% chance for a near-normal season, predicting that there is a 70% chance of having 12 to 17 named storms, of which five to nine could develop into hurricanes, including one to four major hurricanes (Categories 3-5).
Pronunciation Guide
June 2, 2023 – Tropical Storm Arlene forms in the Gulf of Mexico.
June 3, 2023 – Arlene is downgraded to a Tropical Depression and later dissipates.
by tyler | Jun 7, 2023 | CNN, weather
As an orange haze of wildfire smoke from Canada smothers parts of the eastern US, officials are warning residents in both countries of unhealthy or hazardous air Wednesday.
More than 55 million people in the eastern US are under air quality alerts due to the smoke. The heaviest smoke is forecast to impact the Northeast through the Mid-Atlantic and down to the Carolinas, and smoke conditions in those regions could last through at least Thursday.
Major metro areas in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut now have air quality indexes (AQIs) above 150 – which is considered “unhealthy,” according to the government website AirNow.gov.
Philadelphia had an AQI of 205 as of Wednesday morning, which is classified as “very unhealthy.”
New York City; Jersey City, New Jersey; and New Haven, Connecticut all had “unhealthy” AQIs ranging from 155 to 171 on Wednesday morning.
Live updates on the smoke’s spread
And the Canadian capital of Ottawa is getting hit with some of the worst air quality, according to AirNow.gov, a partnership of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies.
While New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, are expected to see their air quality improve throughout the day, the air over Boston, Pittsburgh and Raleigh, North Carolina, is expected to get worse Wednesday.
Philadelphia issued a “code red” alert Wednesday, warning certain residents should stay indoors.
The elderly, young children and those who are pregnant or have heart or lung conditions could experience serious health effects from the smoke, said James Garrow, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
“For those who are not considered to be in a sensitive group, we are asking those folks to avoid strenuous activities outdoors like jogging or exercising,” Garrow told CNN Wednesday.
“We are asking folks to avoid unnecessary time outdoors,” he said.
“But if they need to be outdoors, they should be masked and head inside as often as they need.”
Garrow said it’s not clear how long the code red alert will last, “or if it will change to another level of warning.”
New York City had the worst air pollution of any major city in the world at one point Tuesday night, before dropping to second-worst behind New Delhi, India, according to air quality tracker IQair.
The smoke has also triggered air quality alerts in parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas, according to the National Weather Service.
Air quality in the US Northeast has deteriorated this week as more than 150 wildfires rage in Quebec, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.
In Quebec, the entire town of Chibougamau – population 7,000 – is under a mandatory evacuation order as fast-moving wildfires wreak havoc across the region.
“Given the current situation, the mayor of Chibougamau, Manon Cyr, has declared a state of emergency and announced the mandatory evacuation of the entire town, including the resort area,” the town announced in a Facebook post Tuesday night.
So far this year, the province has endured more than 400 wildfires, which is twice the average for this time of year.
More than 9 million acres have been charred by wildfires in all of Canada this year – about 15 times the normal burned area for this point in the year.
The alarming air quality prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to ask residents to limit their outdoor activity and state environmental officials to issue an air quality health advisory for the city through Wednesday.
“Active children, adults, and people with lung diseases such as asthma should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors,” New York City Emergency Management said.
The nation’s largest public school district canceled all outdoor activities Wednesday, but will remain open. At least 10 school districts in central New York state canceled outdoor activities and events Tuesday.
Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, the air quality index for the city topped 200, pushing it into the “very unhealthy” range, according to air quality tracker AirNow. By 7 a.m. Wednesday, New York City’s air quality index was just below 180, a designation of “unhealthy.”
Human-induced climate change has exacerbated the hot and dry conditions that fuel wildfires.
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.
The intense wildfire smoke hovering over the Northeast could delay flights through major cities, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
As of noon ET Wednesday, airlines in the US have canceled 71 flights and delayed another 1,042, according to tracking site FlightAware.
“Boston, the New York metro area, Philadelphia and the DC metro area are all experiencing some smoke that could impact travel to the airports,” Sam Ausby with the FAA said in a video posted on the agency’s Twitter account.
Aviation weather reports show Newark Liberty International Airport is among the East Coast airports where visibility is the lowest – just 2 miles as of 11:51 a.m. ET.
But smoke does not necessarily pose a major safety hazard for commercial flights, which can operate normally without visual reference to the ground or horizon.
Wildfire smoke is particularly dangerous because it contains tiny particulate matter, or PM2.5 – the tiniest of pollutants.
When inhaled, it can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream. It comes from sources like the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires, and has been linked to several health complications including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.
And the impacts could be deadly: In 2016, about 4.2 million premature deaths were associated with fine particulate matter, according to the World Health Organization.
“If you can see or smell smoke, know that you’re being exposed,” said William Barrett, the national senior director of clean air advocacy with the American Lung Association. “And it’s important that you do everything you can to remain indoors during those high, high pollution episodes, and it’s really important to keep an eye on your health or any development of symptoms.”
by tyler | Jun 7, 2023 | CNN, weather
As an orange haze of wildfire smoke from Canada hovers over parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, officials in New York state are warning residents to avoid being outdoors due to the potential health risk that could persist Wednesday.
New York City had the world’s worst air pollution of any major city during parts of Tuesday as heavy smoke from more than 100 wildfires burning north of the Canadian border drifted south.
The smoke has also triggered air quality alerts in parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas, according to the National Weather Service.
The alarming air quality, a degree of which could continue Wednesday, prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to ask residents to limit their outdoor activity and state environmental officials to issue an air quality health advisory for the city through Wednesday.
“Active children, adults, and people with lung diseases such as asthma should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors,” officials advised.
New York City public schools canceled all outdoor activities Wednesday, but will remain open. At least 10 school districts in central New York state canceled outdoor activities and events Tuesday.
By 7 a.m. Wednesday, New York City’s air quality index was just below 180, a designation of “unhealthy,” according to IQair.
Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, the air quality index for the city topped 200, pushing it into the “very unhealthy” range, according to IQair.
New York City tallied to the worst air quality of any major metropolitan area Tuesday at 10 p.m., IQair’s data showed.
Later Tuesday night it had the second-worst in the world, after New Delhi, India, IQair reported. Other cities on the list were Doha, Qatar; Baghdad, Iraq; and Lahore, Pakistan.
Air quality in the northeast US has deteriorated this week as more than 150 wildfires rage in Quebec, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.
So far this year, the province has experienced more than 400 wildfires, which is twice the average for this time of year.
More than 9 million acres have been charred by wildfires in all of Canada this year – about 15 times the normal burned area for this point in the year.
Human-induced climate change has exacerbated the hot and dry conditions that fuel wildfires. 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.
On Wednesday, the heaviest smoke is forecast to impact the Northeast through the mid-Atlantic and down to the Carolinas. 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.
Wildfire smoke is particularly dangerous because it contains tiny particulate matter, or PM2.5 – the tiniest of pollutants.
When inhaled, it can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream. It comes from sources like the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires, and has been linked to a several health complications including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.
And the impacts could be deadly: In 2016, about 4.2 million premature deaths were associated with fine particulate matter, according to the World Health Organization.
“If you can see or smell smoke, know that you’re being exposed,” said William Barrett, the national senior director of clean air advocacy with the American Lung Association. “And it’s important that you do everything you can to remain indoors during those high, high pollution episodes, and it’s really important to keep an eye on your health or any development of symptoms.”
