Washington, D.C. on Thursday had some of the most polluted air in the world. More than 100 million Americans are under air quality alerts as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to grip the U.S. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane has the latest on the thick haze in the nation's capital.
"EVIL COMES FROM THE NORTH"
TWIN PEAKS 😱
Canada wildfires again bring more unhealthy air to North America
Smoke from raging Canadian wildfires hangs over US Midwest and parts of East Coast, creating hazy skies and worsening air quality, making for dangerous, unhealthy conditions for millions of Americans.
REUTERS
Smoky haze from the wildfires in Canada blankets Chicago, Illinois, on June 28, 2023. / Photo: Reuters
Smoke from Canada's worst-ever wildfires was severely impacting air quality across Ontario and at least 15 US states, with monitors warning that over one hundred million people face potentially unhealthy conditions.
Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland recorded some of the worst air quality in the United States on Wednesday, with residents told to stay inside or limit outdoor activity as smoke blanketed huge swaths of the country just weeks after communities suffered similar disruptions from Canada's hundreds of active forest fires.
Canada's most populous city Toronto was a 10 out of 10 — "high risk" — on Environment Canada's air quality health index, while Swiss-based monitoring company IQAir pegged it as the worst air quality of any major city in the world.
Alerts were issued from Ontario to northern US states Minnesota and Michigan, across to New York and down to the southeastern states of North Carolina and Georgia, the latest dangerous air conditions in much of North America's Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions.
The air quality alerts come as much of the US South and Midwest bakes under a brutal heat wave that is affecting several million Americans, with the National Weather Service issuing a heat index forecast as high as 46 Celsius on Wednesday in northern and central Texas.
The suburbs of Chicago, whose metropolitan area is home to more than nine million people, posted a "very unhealthy" air quality index, or AQI, of 285 mid-day on Wednesday, according to AirNow.
US President Joe Biden's Air Force One touched down in the Windy City on Wednesday "through a thick layer of smoke and haze," according to a White House pool report, ahead of an economic speech there.
He then flew by presidential helicopter on a short trip to the speech location, offering a bird's-eye view of the dangerous air conditions.
"Air Quality in Chicago is still very unhealthy today. Please limit time outdoors," Chicago's emergency management office post on Twitter.
AirNow showed the Detroit area, with 4.3 million people, recording a "hazardous" AQI touching 306, before dropping off slightly.
An AQI of 301 or above reflects "emergency conditions" that are likely to affect everyone, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
'Code Red'
The wildfires — the largest ever recorded in Canada — have raged for two months, darkening Canadian and US skies with smoke and haze that contain tiny dangerous particles considered especially harmful for people sensitive to pollution.
"Unhealthy levels of smoke are expected for a wide swath of the Midwest today, the US National Weather Service said.
"Wildfire smoke from Canada will reduce air quality over parts of the Upper/Middle Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes, Western Ohio Valley, Central Appalachians, and Mid-Atlantic, prompting Air Quality Warnings over the area."
In New York City, where noxious haze three weeks ago disrupted flights and forced the cancellation of outdoor events, officials on Wednesday warned that air quality is expected to deteriorate again this week.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority said it would offer free KN95 masks at its subway and train stops.
The state of Pennsylvania also declared a "Code Red" on air quality for Wednesday.
The wildfire smoke has drifted across the Atlantic Ocean and over European countries including Portugal and Spain.
But air quality there remained mostly fair on Tuesday, "because most of the smoke that reached Europe was higher in the atmosphere, where it is less likely to affect human health," according to US space agency NASA's Earth Observatory.
The wildfire smoke was also bearing down once more on the US capital Washington, a situation that NASA scientist Ryan Stauffer, who studies air pollution and the ozone, called "absolutely brutal."
Scientists say human-induced climate crisis is helping drive the increased rates of wildfires, heat waves and intense weather systems.
Smoke from raging Canadian wildfires hangs over US Midwest and parts of East Coast, creating hazy skies and worsening air quality, making for dangerous, unhealthy conditions for millions of Americans.
REUTERS
Smoky haze from the wildfires in Canada blankets Chicago, Illinois, on June 28, 2023. / Photo: Reuters
Smoke from Canada's worst-ever wildfires was severely impacting air quality across Ontario and at least 15 US states, with monitors warning that over one hundred million people face potentially unhealthy conditions.
Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland recorded some of the worst air quality in the United States on Wednesday, with residents told to stay inside or limit outdoor activity as smoke blanketed huge swaths of the country just weeks after communities suffered similar disruptions from Canada's hundreds of active forest fires.
Canada's most populous city Toronto was a 10 out of 10 — "high risk" — on Environment Canada's air quality health index, while Swiss-based monitoring company IQAir pegged it as the worst air quality of any major city in the world.
Alerts were issued from Ontario to northern US states Minnesota and Michigan, across to New York and down to the southeastern states of North Carolina and Georgia, the latest dangerous air conditions in much of North America's Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions.
The air quality alerts come as much of the US South and Midwest bakes under a brutal heat wave that is affecting several million Americans, with the National Weather Service issuing a heat index forecast as high as 46 Celsius on Wednesday in northern and central Texas.
The suburbs of Chicago, whose metropolitan area is home to more than nine million people, posted a "very unhealthy" air quality index, or AQI, of 285 mid-day on Wednesday, according to AirNow.
US President Joe Biden's Air Force One touched down in the Windy City on Wednesday "through a thick layer of smoke and haze," according to a White House pool report, ahead of an economic speech there.
He then flew by presidential helicopter on a short trip to the speech location, offering a bird's-eye view of the dangerous air conditions.
"Air Quality in Chicago is still very unhealthy today. Please limit time outdoors," Chicago's emergency management office post on Twitter.
AirNow showed the Detroit area, with 4.3 million people, recording a "hazardous" AQI touching 306, before dropping off slightly.
An AQI of 301 or above reflects "emergency conditions" that are likely to affect everyone, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
'Code Red'
The wildfires — the largest ever recorded in Canada — have raged for two months, darkening Canadian and US skies with smoke and haze that contain tiny dangerous particles considered especially harmful for people sensitive to pollution.
"Unhealthy levels of smoke are expected for a wide swath of the Midwest today, the US National Weather Service said.
"Wildfire smoke from Canada will reduce air quality over parts of the Upper/Middle Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes, Western Ohio Valley, Central Appalachians, and Mid-Atlantic, prompting Air Quality Warnings over the area."
In New York City, where noxious haze three weeks ago disrupted flights and forced the cancellation of outdoor events, officials on Wednesday warned that air quality is expected to deteriorate again this week.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority said it would offer free KN95 masks at its subway and train stops.
The state of Pennsylvania also declared a "Code Red" on air quality for Wednesday.
The wildfire smoke has drifted across the Atlantic Ocean and over European countries including Portugal and Spain.
But air quality there remained mostly fair on Tuesday, "because most of the smoke that reached Europe was higher in the atmosphere, where it is less likely to affect human health," according to US space agency NASA's Earth Observatory.
The wildfire smoke was also bearing down once more on the US capital Washington, a situation that NASA scientist Ryan Stauffer, who studies air pollution and the ozone, called "absolutely brutal."
Scientists say human-induced climate crisis is helping drive the increased rates of wildfires, heat waves and intense weather systems.
Unprecedented wildfires ravage Canada, displacing thousands
Devastating fires rage from east to west in Canada. Wildfires in Canada surpass annual carbon emissions record, reports the European observatory Copernicus.
More than 7.8 million hectares of land have been burnt this year, an area nearly the size of Austria / Photo: AP Archive.
From east to west, Canada is in the grips of an unprecedented wildfire season and its peak, which usually comes in July or August, has not even been reached.
No province has been spared, not even Quebec and Nova Scotia in the east, which don't normally see large blazes.
Here's a brief overview of what Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said Tuesday was "Canada's worst wildfire season on record" by the numbers.
Close to 500 active fires
A total of 490 wildfires were burning on Tuesday, more than half of which were considered out of control. These started in Western Canada in early May, prompting a state of emergency in Alberta and evacuations of tens of thousands of people
A few weeks later, as rains brought some relief to Western Canada, firefighting efforts shifted to Nova Scotia on the Atlantic Coast and Quebec, unaccustomed to the massive scale and strength of this year's blazes.
Today, Quebec remains the top hotspot in the country, with 112 active fires and the smoke spreading as far as the United States and Europe.
In total, more than 100,000 people were displaced by wildfires across Canada.
Wildfire smoke from Canada crosses the North Atlantic and reaches Spain pic.twitter.com/xCC9gfmdMt— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) June 28, 2023
7.8 million hectares scorched
In a typical year, about 7,500 wildfires burn more than 2.5 million hectares of forests in Canada. So far this year, more than 7.8 million hectares (19 million acres) - an area almost as big as Austria - have been scorched.
In Quebec, 1.3 million hectares have burned so far, compared to an average of less than 10,000 annually over the past decade. The area burned in the last 25 days exceeded the combined total over the past 20 years.
Carbon emissions high
Carbon emissions released by the wildfires have already exceeded the Canadian annual record, according to the European observatory Copernicus.
Since early May, they have generated nearly 600 million tons of CO2, equivalent to 88 percent of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions from all sources in 2021, it reported.
Canadian fires alone in 2023 now account for over 10 percent of global carbon emissions from forest fires in 2022 (1,455 megatons).
Devastating fires rage from east to west in Canada. Wildfires in Canada surpass annual carbon emissions record, reports the European observatory Copernicus.
More than 7.8 million hectares of land have been burnt this year, an area nearly the size of Austria / Photo: AP Archive.
From east to west, Canada is in the grips of an unprecedented wildfire season and its peak, which usually comes in July or August, has not even been reached.
No province has been spared, not even Quebec and Nova Scotia in the east, which don't normally see large blazes.
Here's a brief overview of what Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said Tuesday was "Canada's worst wildfire season on record" by the numbers.
Close to 500 active fires
A total of 490 wildfires were burning on Tuesday, more than half of which were considered out of control. These started in Western Canada in early May, prompting a state of emergency in Alberta and evacuations of tens of thousands of people
A few weeks later, as rains brought some relief to Western Canada, firefighting efforts shifted to Nova Scotia on the Atlantic Coast and Quebec, unaccustomed to the massive scale and strength of this year's blazes.
Today, Quebec remains the top hotspot in the country, with 112 active fires and the smoke spreading as far as the United States and Europe.
In total, more than 100,000 people were displaced by wildfires across Canada.
Wildfire smoke from Canada crosses the North Atlantic and reaches Spain pic.twitter.com/xCC9gfmdMt— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) June 28, 2023
7.8 million hectares scorched
In a typical year, about 7,500 wildfires burn more than 2.5 million hectares of forests in Canada. So far this year, more than 7.8 million hectares (19 million acres) - an area almost as big as Austria - have been scorched.
In Quebec, 1.3 million hectares have burned so far, compared to an average of less than 10,000 annually over the past decade. The area burned in the last 25 days exceeded the combined total over the past 20 years.
Carbon emissions high
Carbon emissions released by the wildfires have already exceeded the Canadian annual record, according to the European observatory Copernicus.
Since early May, they have generated nearly 600 million tons of CO2, equivalent to 88 percent of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions from all sources in 2021, it reported.
Canadian fires alone in 2023 now account for over 10 percent of global carbon emissions from forest fires in 2022 (1,455 megatons).
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