Canada’s supercharged wildfires are forecast to mean worse air quality in the US through the fall
Wildfires are harming air quality
Paul Walsh from BreezoMeter joins FOX Weather to talk about wildfires and how they’re affecting our health.
Canadian officials have released an absolute fire Predict activity through Petni. The news can literally make residents of the northern tier states gasp. Meteorologists and fire meteorologists have placed central Canada at “above average” wildfire activity.
We’ve seen it through summerSmoke from wildfires drifts across the United States and often knocks air quality Unhealthy for millions.
Air Quality Indicators Explained: Is Air Quality Bad?
FILE: New York City June 3 then June 7, 2023, after smoke from wildfires in Canada hit. (Fox Weather / Fox Weather)
“Continued warm and dry weather is predicted to contribute to the initiation of new fires, and there is a possibility that some existing large wildfires may be active through September and possibly later in the fall or winter“National Resources Canada said a statement.
Based on fire forecast the drought condition and temperature and amount of rainfall Forecast according to National Resources Canada.
What is an Air Quality Action Day?
It could mean more Air quality alerts as in six states last week. That means more blood-red, smoky sunsets than we’ve ever seen New York June through Halloween. A health professional told Fox Weather that 15 minutes of breathing outside during New York City’s June air quality emergency was equivalent to smoking half a pack of cigarettes.
How is air quality measured?
“Canada’s Worst Wildfire Season”
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources called 2023 “Canada’s worst wildfire season ever.”
“This year’s bushfire season has been unprecedented and devastating for communities across the country,” the Minister for Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages said in a statement. “Evacuation disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Canadians.”
42 million acres have burned so far Canada. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre The report said that 925 fires are currently burning and 560 of them are out of control. Year to date, there have been 6,208 fire incidents across the country.
Watch wildfires span ‘fire wheels’ as flames burn across the landscape inside California’s Mojave National Preserve
The number of wildfires is higher than usual, but the intensity and area make this fire season UnprecedentedAccording to Canadian officials. The burned area will be covered Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, new jerseyNew Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington DC
A total of 40 million acres in the last nine years. On average, only 5.7 million acres burn annually in the country.
To put that in perspective, the worst wildfire year in the US in the past 40 years was 2015, when 10.1 million acres burned.
Smoke can pose a health hazard
Smoke from wildfires in Canada covers the New York City Midtown Manhattan skyline and the Empire State Building behind Hoboken, New Jersey on July 18, 2023, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Gary Hershaw
From itchy eyes to breathing problems to complex conditions, eg Asthma and emphysema, several symptoms can come from wildfire smoke particles. The particles can enter your airways and cause chronic inflammation and chronic breathing problems, says Dr. Sampson Davis, a Carewell emergency medicine physician.
“Fine particulate pollution from wildfire smoke can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and cause coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, dizziness or fatigue,” warns Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Fires can be dangerous to your health even if you are nowhere near them
“Smoke particles are small enough that they can be inhaled deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. This can lead to illnesses such as bronchitis or exacerbate existing chronic heart and lung disease, trigger heart palpitations, Asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes,” the organization’s statement continued.
Smoke can travel thousands of miles through the atmosphere. So even if you, your family and pets aren’t near a wildfire, air quality can be compromised. In June, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service Smoke from Canadian wildfires is drifting into Europe.
CAMS maps predict where the smoke will travel based on weather models. Here’s the forecast.
FOX Weather monitors air quality across the United States Check here for conditions near you.
Read more from Fox Weather
