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Chicago skyline: unhealthy air quality
Photo: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP
The northeastern United States is once again feeling the consequences of the Canadian forest fires: On Wednesday, cities with over a million inhabitants such as Chicago and Cleveland were shrouded in smoke, as reported by the New York Times, among others. An even higher load is expected on Thursday.
The smoke from wildfires in Canada is once again leading to poor air quality and limited visibility in large parts of the Midwest. From unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality, the Great Lakes area bordering Canada was particularly affected, as shown on maps from the National Weather Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
At the beginning of June, the metropolis of New York City was particularly hard hit by the phenomenon. Meanwhile, the city topped the list of places with the highest air pollution in the world.
Avoid strenuous activities
In Chicago, Illinois, the mayor called on children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with heart and lung problems to avoid strenuous activities and spend little time outside.
"Cities across North America have experienced unhealthy air quality this summer because of smoke from wildfires, impacting more than 20 million people in New York City, Washington D.C., Montreal and today here in Chicago," Mayor Brandon Johnson wrote on Facebook Tuesday. The "worrying episode" makes clear the harmful effects that the climate crisis has on the inhabitants of the city and on people around the world.
Numerous fires have been raging in Canada for weeks. At the beginning of June, the smoke enveloped parts of the US East Coast and caused the worst air quality in decades in the metropolis of New York. Even in Portugal, a cloud of smoke is currently darkening the sky – according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), this also comes from the fires in Canada.
lmd/dpa