As of early Friday morning, the United States has no active air quality alerts after a week of warnings, partly related to smoke from widespread Canadian wildfires. The National Weather Service’s (NWS) online map showed the removal of all advisories that had covered the Midwest, Northeast, and other regions earlier in the week.
Why It Matters
The clearing of air quality alerts marks a significant improvement after days of hazardous smoke drifted from Canada into the U.S., leading to unhealthy air in cities from Minneapolis to New York.
Widespread exposure to wildfire smoke heightened health risks, particularly for sensitive groups, and prompted public health warnings in multiple states.
What To Know
On Thursday, 10 states were affected by air quality alerts, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.
While not all were explicitly linked to wildfire smoke, an alert for Minnesota warned that smoke had caused levels of fine particles to climb in to “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category, which includes infants and older adults.
“Reduce vehicle trips and vehicle idling as much as possible,” the alert said at the time.
It also suggested reducing other activities that contribute to air pollution, such as outdoor burning.
On Monday, Ohio, Maine, and New Hampshire were under air quality alerts, with officials in Maine recommending that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects.
Tuesday saw alerts issued for parts of Arizona and Ohio. On Wednesday, six Michigan counties were under air quality alert, with mapping from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showing high levels of air pollution in several other states, including Montana, and North Dakota.
What People Are Saying
Professor of pediatric respiratory and environmental medicine Jonathan Grigg, with Queen Mary, University of London, previously told Newsweek: “There are vulnerable groups and classically they are children because they’ve got an extra issue to do with their lungs developing, whereas our lungs are not developing as adults.
“Their trajectory can be deviated so they don’t actually achieve their maximum lung function.”
There are also “very clear links” between inhaling particles and earlier death from both respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, Grigg said.
Additionally, Grigg said conditions such as asthma are also exacerbated by exposure to air pollution.
What Happens Next?
Though there may be no air quality alerts for now, forecasters at AccuWeather are predicting that smoke from Canadian wildfires could continue to impact the U.S. through the summer, leading to hazy skies and potentially promoting additional air quality alerts in the coming months.
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