#ExtraordinaryWeather #AccuWeather @AccuWeather When Will The Dangerous Air Quality Begin To Improve? The Worst Wildfire Smoke Outbreak in More Than 20 Years Endangers More Than 57 Million Americans
In Worst Impacted Areas, Breathing Smoke Filled Air For Several Hours
Equivalent to Smoking 5-10, even 20 cigarettes!
As accurately forecast by AccuWeather, air quality further worsened to extremely hazardous levels across portions of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, including the New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore metropolitan areas on Wednesday and Wednesday night as a new plume of smoke arrived in these areas from out-of-control wildfires raging in Quebec. The unusual smoke caused widespread impacts, even more disruptive and impactful than some severe weather events in this part of the country, including sickening people, disruptions to air travel, cancellation of outdoor events and greatly reducing visibility.
Some AccuWeather Resources for Tracking Smoke & Describing Impacts:
To underscore the health impacts - based on available research, AccuWeather estimates that breathing the polluted air in the worst impacted areas of the Northeast for several hours can result in breathing in the same level of harmful air as smoking 5-10, even 20 cigarettes!
Here's a rundown of key questions about how the air quality will evolve over the next few days:
When will the air quality start to show some improvement?
Air quality, though still harmful, has improved a bit in the New York City area Thursday afternoon while the air quality has worsened over parts of the Mid-Atlantic, including the Washington D.C. area and Richmond areas.
Later Thursday afternoon and into the evening, air quality can worsen in areas further west, including major metropolitan areas such as Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh as a greater concentration of smoke arrives from north to south across the region. At this time, much of this smoke remains above the ground, but over time, the concentration of smoke can increase resulting in greater health impacts to people.
AccuWeather meteorologists have summarized when there can be some improvement in the air quality in the below cities and when more significant improvements are expected:
Will smoke still be around this weekend?
This is an important question with many outdoor events planned at this time of year – graduations, concerts, festivals, and other gatherings. People planning these events will need to keep track of changing air quality conditions and be ready to make adjustments that may be needed – just as they would monitor and plan around inclement weather.
And yes, smoke will persist in some areas into the early part of the weekend. A stagnant weather pattern in place across the Northeast which has driven atmospheric winds delivering fresh batches of smoke from the Canadian wildfires will begin to slowly migrate to the east into the weekend. As it does so, smoke conditions will reduce from west to east across the Northeastern United States. Patches of reduced air quality and associated health impacts will continue in some spots especially early in the weekend.
What actions can people take to minimize their heath risks?
AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter stressed frequently checking the latest air quality map located at: http://www.accuweather.com/airquality is recommended over the coming days as air quality conditions can change quickly and vary over short distances. Additionally, Porter continued to recommend people “limit their time outdoors in areas with air pollution while using a high quality N95 or KN95 mask if you must be outdoors. Indoors, sleeping with the windows closed and using an air conditioner or fan can be helpful, and using a HEPA filter can reduce the number of the small smoke particles from the air.”
He added: “Please remember this poor air quality can be particularly dangerous to the young, elderly and people with underlying respiratory conditions such as asthma or COPD, check on friends, family and neighbors who might need extra attention during this time – your extra attention and concern might help save a life!”
It has felt so eerie and even cool with the smoke – is the smoke resulting in lower temperatures?
Absolutely! The smoke conditions have resulted in temperatures running an average of 2-4 degrees lower, even 8-10 degrees lower in the areas with highest smoke concentrations, than what would be expected without the smoke! This is occurring as the smoke is reducing some of the sun’s incoming radiation and creating meaningful reductions to the air temperature during the day.
If the wildfires were not raging out of control in Quebec, what type of weather pattern would the Northeast be experiencing?
AccuWeather Expert Senior Meteorologist Bob Larson said, “without the wildfires lofting copious amounts of smoke into the atmosphere, this flow pattern in the atmosphere would typically result in a long stretch of beautiful weather in the Northeast, which is being spoiled by the smoke. The sky over the Northeast would be exceptionally blue, crisp, and clear, given the north-northwesterly flow out of eastern Canada – a crisp airmass with unusually low dew points for June, meaning it would feel quite comfortable.”
About AccuWeather, Inc. and AccuWeather.com - AccuWeather, recognized and documented as the most accurate source of weather forecasts and warnings in the world has saved tens of thousands of lives, prevented hundreds of thousands of injuries and tens of billions of dollars in property damage. With global headquarters in State College, PA and other offices around the world, AccuWeather serves more than 1.5 billion people daily to help them plan their lives and get more out of their day through radio, television, newspapers, smart phones, tablets, connected TVs, the AccuWeather Network and AccuWeather.com. Additionally, AccuWeather produces and distributes news, weather content, and video for more than 180,000 third-party websites.
