NY.– The smoke from the hundreds of forest fires in Canada continues to damage the air quality of large regions of the Midwest and Northeast of the United States, where New York is this Friday the most affected city in the country and the second on the planet, after Toronto. (Canada), according to the IQAair monitoring website.
The cities of New York and Washington DC have woken up today with air pollution indexes of 142 and 120, respectively, which means that the healthiness of the air can affect people with allergies, respiratory problems, children and the elderly.
Other cities that continue to suffer from air pollution are Chicago and Detroit, although with much lower levels than in the past, as the winds have been moving the smoke to the southeast.
The state of NY today declared an alert for poor air quality and announced that alarms will be sent to mobile phones in the event that health indices exceed 200 points.
“With smoke at ground level more visible and air quality continuing to reach unhealthy levels in many parts of the state, we encourage New Yorkers to take precautions to protect their health,” said Governor Kathy Hochul, who has recommended the use of N95 masks, which are being distributed free of charge in the main communication hubs, such as Grand Central Station, in New York City.
Washington capital, for its part, has reduced its alert level from red to orange today.
Despite the poor quality of the air these days, the levels have not reached the unhealthy levels of June 8, when the purple and maroon codes (the most severe) were reached, a situation that notably affected cities such as Washington or New York, which were covered for days by a mist with which iconic buildings such as the Empire State or the US Capitol could not be seen.
Across Canada, there are close to 500 active fires and since the start of the year the flames have consumed 8 million hectares, or 80,000 square kilometers, more than what would normally burn in a year.
Canadian authorities have indicated that this is the worst wildfire season in the country’s modern history due to the climate crisis.
