Due to smoke coming in from Canadian wildfires, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued air quality alerts for many states on Sunday, from Montana to Ohio to New York.
Also Read: Is the Canadian wildfire still burning? Map shows fire, smoke locations
“Air Quality alerts are in place for much of the Great Lakes, Midwest, and northern High Plains,” the National Weather Service said. “This is due to the lingering thick concentration of Canadian wildfire smoke over these regions. While the concentration of smoke in the atmosphere should begin to wain by Monday, there is still enough smoke to support unhealthy air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups in parts of these regions into the start of the upcoming week.”
The United States has issued an air quality alert after a sizable portion of the northern Plains, spanning from Montana to Illinois, scored an “unhealthy” range on the Air Quality Index on Sunday, which equates to Level 4 of 6.
“The smoke is expected to cause the Air Quality Index to reach levels in Upstate communities that are ‘Unhealthy for All’ New Yorkers,” Governor Kathy Hochul stated. These remarks were made during a press briefing regarding flooding and severe rain.
“As if the rain coming out of the sky isn’t enough, if you start looking up tomorrow you’re going to see a similar situation to what we had a couple of weeks ago because of the air quality degradation resulting from the wildfires in Canada,” she added. “We’re likely to be issuing an air quality alert for portions of our state. It seems to be projected to be mostly around western New York and the North Country at this time. But as we saw, it can shift very quickly and start developing in more populated areas.”
Hochul claimed that, compared to the typical range of 0 to 50, the air quality index in particular places was predicted to be 100 to 150. According to her, the state has turned on roadside emergency warnings and is distributing masks.
