Thick wildfire smoke rolled across the Midwest, the Northeast and parts of Canada this week, painting skies a hazy orange and setting off widespread air quality alerts. The haze is being fed by fires burning in Minnesota and western Ontario.
Canada Bears the Brunt of the Fires
Canada is where most of the fire activity is concentrated, with 119 wildfires burning out of control across the country as of Friday afternoon. The blazes are intense enough that smoke is climbing high into the atmosphere, where the jet stream picks it up and carries it hundreds of miles eastward into the US.
Chicago and Detroit Top the World's Worst Air Rankings
That eastward drift of smoke is why Chicago and Detroit recorded the worst air quality of any cities in the world on Friday. New York and Washington, DC, also broke into the global top 10 for pollution that day, underscoring how far the smoke has traveled from its source in Canada and Minnesota.
Cities Urge Residents to Stay Inside
With air quality readings deteriorating, cities affected by the smoke have urged residents to remain indoors, and many people have been looking for ways to limit their exposure to the harmful particles in wildfire smoke. Cleaner air is expected to move into at least some of the affected areas over the weekend, but the wildfires themselves are showing no signs of dying down, raising the possibility of further smoke episodes later this summer.
A Pattern Tied to a Warming World
The burning of fossil fuels has raised the likelihood of destructive wildfires, and with them, more frequent smoke events like this one. This week's orange skies over the East Coast echo scenes from 2023, when Canada's worst wildfire season on record blanketed the region in smoke. Similar smoke-filled skies have shown up in Europe this summer as fires tear through Spain, and orange skies have also appeared in recent years in places as far apart as Australia and California.
Research Points to a Deadlier Future
A study published last year in the journal Nature found that the outlook is likely to worsen unless the world scales back its use of coal, oil and gas. The research projected that wildfire smoke will cause 71,420 excess deaths annually in the US alone by mid-century, a 73 percent jump from levels recorded in the 2010s. The study's researchers estimate that up to 1.9 million people in the US will die from smoke-related health problems between now and then.
This week's smoke invasion is a snapshot of what these researchers warn could become a far more common and severe occurrence if global temperatures keep climbing.
