More than a third of the area charred by wildfires in Western North America can be traced back to fossil fuels, scientists find “Really, make sure you take appropriate steps to check in with health care providers about any concerning symptoms that come up during these events,” Barrett said.įirefighters try to control a back burn as the Carr fire continues to spread towards the towns of Douglas City and Lewiston near Redding, California on July 31, 2018. “And it’s important that you do everything you can to remain indoors during those high, high pollution episodes, and it’s really important to keep an eye on your health or any development of symptoms.”īarrett said that people who are particularly vulnerable to wildfire smoke “are children, senior citizens, people who are pregnant or people with respiratory or cardiovascular diseases” whose symptoms may worsen or newly develop when exposed to smoke. “If you can see or smell smoke, know that you’re being exposed,” said William Barrett, the national senior director of clean air advocacy with the American Lung Association. On Tuesday, the concentration of PM2.5 in New York City’s air was more than 10 times the guideline set by the World Health Organization. In 2016, around 4.2 million premature deaths were associated with fine particulate matter, according to the World Health Organization. Millions of people die each year from air pollution-related health issues. The Arctic may be sea ice-free in summer by the 2030s, new study warns REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER ICE" FOR THIS STORY. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades, with Ny-Alesund's weather records going back more than 40 years, but as Svalbard temperatures climb up to seven times faster than the global average, scientists' work has become vitally important because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. Ice floes are seen in Kongsfjord, near Ny-Aalesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 6, 2023. It comes from sources like the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires, and has been linked to a number of health problems including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses. When inhaled, it can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream. Wildfire smoke contains very tiny particulate matter, or PM2.5 – the tiniest pollutant yet also the most dangerous. Those activities include academic, athletic and extracurricular events, while outdoor recess and gym classes were also canceled, school district announcements said. New York City also briefly topped the list on Tuesday morning.Īs a result, at least 10 school districts in central New York state canceled outdoor activities and events Tuesday.
Other cities on the list were Doha, Qatar Baghdad, Iraq and Lahore, Pakistan. Later Tuesday night, New York City had the second-worst levels of air pollution in the world after New Delhi, India, IQair reported. The city had the worst quality of air of any major metropolitan area Tuesday at 10 p.m. New York City’s air quality index was above 200 at one point Tuesday night – a level that is “very unhealthy,” according to IQair.
Smoke from Canada’s fires has periodically engulfed the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for more than a week, raising concerns over the harms of persistent poor air quality. New York City topped the list of the world’s worst air pollution for parts of Tuesday as harmful smoke wafted south from more than a hundred wildfires burning in Quebec.
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