Canadian wildfires contribute to ongoing air quality alerts for New York state
By Rick Karlin
Editor’s note: This was updated at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday with information that the alert will likely continue through Thursday, Aug. 7
Key takeaways
- An Air Quality Health Advisory remains in effect for most of New York state due to wildfires in Canada, with air quality at “orange” status statewide.
- The elderly, those with health issues and pregnant women are particularly susceptible to poor breathing conditions, which can be exacerbated by physical activity like hiking.
- State officials advise taking precautions such as shorter hikes and listening to your body if you start experiencing symptoms like coughing when recreating in the Adirondacks.
An Air Quality Health Advisory remained in effect for the Adirondacks, and for most of the state, due to particulate matter being emitted from the dozens of wildfires burning across the border in Canada.
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The advisory is expected to remain in effect until at least Thursday, according to authorities.
“We expect this to be a multi-day event,” said state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton.
While the Adirondacks appeared to be clearing a bit on Tuesday, the advisory remained in effect in the region, said Lefton.
Air quality was at “unhealthy for sensitive groups” status statewide, with the exception of Long Island. That means the elderly, those with health or lung diseases and pregnant women, are susceptible to poor breathing conditions.
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The levels of fine particular matter in the air determines the air quality ratings, which range from “good,” (green) to “moderate” (yellow) to “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” (orange) to “unhealthy,” (red) to “very unhealthy” (purple) to “hazardous” (dark red).
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For those seeking to recreate in the Adirondacks, health officials advise, for instance, taking relatively shorter hikes requiring a lower level of exertion.
And if you start coughing, you should turn around and head back, according to state Health Commissioner James McDonald, who gave a briefing on the situation with other state officials on Monday.
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“If your body is speaking to you, it’s really important to listen to it,” McDonald said.
This is the second summer that smoke from wildfires in remote, wooded areas of Canada have drifted south, causing the particulate haze.
On Monday, there were 59 uncontrolled and 108 controlled wildfires in Canada, according to fire officials there. The bulk were in the province of Manitoba.
In addition to New York, midwestern states including Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are seeing the smoke, which is also visible as far south as Texas.
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McDonald noted that the vast Canadian wildfires are coming with climate change, which is altering human behavior.
He says New Yorkers may end up making regular checks of air quality the same way they check for snowstorms in the winter.
“The climate changed so my behavior changes,” he said.
Photo at top: Photographer Carl Heilman II took this photo of the sun on a recent hazy day without a filter.
Share your hazy summer photos with Explorer editor Melissa Hart via email to [email protected]
Could those be 2-3 sunspots on the picture??