Air quality in the Northeastern United States has worsened as smog and haze from Canadian wildfires reaches the region. The wildfires are the worst on record, and the resulting smoke and haze have caused air quality in cities such as New York and Washington to drop to unhealthy levels for those with sensitivities.
While the smog is not as intense as it was last week, it is expected to remain until Monday when rain showers are forecasted to move in. This will help clean the air and provide relief to those impacted by the poor air quality. Meteorologists have noted that the haze is visible in many of the affected cities.
The air quality briefly improved on Saturday, providing some relief to the region. However, it began to deteriorate again on Sunday. The Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow map reported that air quality had fallen to moderate in many regions, while pockets such as Washington and New York experienced even worse air quality. Last week, New York briefly became the most polluted major city in the world.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, which covers nine counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, issued an air quality alert on Sunday for the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The wildfires in Canada have become more common due to climate change, which causes hotter summers and makes forests more vulnerable to fires. This is yet another indicator that the extreme temperatures resulting from climate change are making the planet less hospitable, with drought, stronger hurricanes, and heat waves becoming more severe.
The haze is expected to remain in the eastern United States until a storm arrives on Monday evening, which will push the smoke out of the region and deliver up to two inches of precipitation. Rain is also expected on Tuesday over northwestern Quebec, which could help firefighters battling the massive wildfires that have been raging in the region for many days. Meteorologist Zack Taylor, from the US Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, noted that this rainfall should wash out some of the smokiness in the region.