Current:Home > NewsPrepare for More Smoky Summers in the Midwest and Northeast -Infinite Edge Capital
Prepare for More Smoky Summers in the Midwest and Northeast
View
Date:2025-04-13 16:02:16
CHICAGO—Parks, beaches and restaurants offering outdoor dining are typically booming here in the summer months after a long, frigid winter, but smoky skies have kept many residents indoors since Tuesday when Chicago’s air quality was briefly the worst in the world.
Smoke from wildfires in Canada has blanketed parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes this week, with the highest particulate matter levels in parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Iowa, according to air quality tracking by the Environmental Protection Agency. PM2.5, particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns—about 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair—is a mixture of solid and liquid particles in the air that can harm human health when inhaled.
Climate experts say it is hard to tell if this will be something Midwesterners will have to deal with frequently, but this will likely not be the last time.
“It’s something that we don’t see very often [in Chicago],” said Illinois state climatologist Trent Ford.
Rising temperatures due to climate change have made wildfires more common and more intense worldwide, temporarily deteriorating air quality in areas surrounding the blazes and, occasionally, in regions far from the flames.
This trend is evident in the western U.S., where wildfires have been burning more acres of land in recent years, but the circumstances that led to wildfire smoke from the Northeast into the Midwest are not typical.
“In the past years, it was mainly the western part of Canada that has seen a lot of wildfires, now it looks like it can happen in the eastern part as well,” said Nicole Riemer, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “The conditions may not be like this every year, but it’s probably going to happen again.”
The dry atmospheric conditions that led to wildfires in Northeastern Canada are the same kind of conditions that blew the smoke into the U.S. Midwest and Northeast, Ford said.
Air quality advisories were in effect across the region since Tuesday, with air quality index levels reaching “very unhealthy” in some areas. The haze is slowly flowing into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, according to the EPA’s tracking of the smoke.
The event follows smoke that enveloped the Northeast earlier this month. At the time, New York City briefly had the worst air quality of any city in the world, and it recorded the highest number of emergency room visits for asthma this year, with the Bronx especially hard hit by the haze, Inside Climate News reported.
The swaths of smoke exacerbate health risks for people already burdened by air pollution from transportation and industrial sources. Respiratory health risks are already higher in neighborhoods with larger Black and brown populations, which are more likely to live closer to sources of pollution.
People breathing in the smoke may experience a range of issues, including scratchy throats, eye irritation, coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing. Particulate matter can get into the circulatory system through the lungs and is associated with outcomes from stroke and heart attacks, to premature births and premature deaths, according to Brian Urbaszewski of the Respiratory Health Association.
The smoke worsens already poor air quality in communities like Chicago’s Southwest and Southeast Side, where ozone and particulate pollution levels are already higher than in the rest of the city. These communities already deal with some of the worst air pollution in the U.S., according to an analysis by the Guardian in March.
“Marginalized communities are suffering additional harm right now, but next week, when the rest of the city is breathing clean air again, we will still be breathing pollution from very active industrial operations that are in close proximity to our built environment,” said Alfredo Romo, executive director of Neighbors for Environmental Justice in Chicago. “For us, the problem doesn’t end when the wind shifts.”
The Canadian wildfires have forced federal, state and local officials to raise awareness about the poor air quality and how it negatively affects the environment and human health, said Romo. He hopes this created a larger sense of urgency to address the cumulative impacts of industrial pollution and transportation that disproportionately impacts the Southwest and Southeast side communities.
“My administration and I are keenly aware of the climate crisis’s impact in this moment; vulnerable communities in Chicago bear a continuously heavier burden from climate exacerbated extreme weather,” said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in a public statement on Wednesday.
The City of Chicago–like other affected cities–recommended that Chicagoans stay indoors and use a KN95 or N95 mask while outside. They offered public libraries, senior centers, park facilities and the city cultural center as places for people without properly ventilated and safe indoor spaces. Exposure to the smoke can’t be completely avoided indoors but can be limited by closing windows and doors and using air filters, said Urbaszewski.
“If it’s really hot, smoky and you don’t have an AC, keeping windows shut and succumbing to heat is a risk, so people in that situation should look elsewhere for a temporary safe, cool place to stay,” said Urbaszewski.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- The city of Chicago is ordered to pay nearly $80M for a police chase that killed a 10
- A Coal Miner Died Early Wednesday at an Alabama Mine With Dozens of Recent Safety Citations
- Jon and Kate Gosselin's Son Collin Gosselin's College Plans Revealed
- En busca de soluciones para los parques infantiles donde el calor quema
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- Simone Biles Wants Her Athleta Collection to Make Women Feel Confident & Powerful
- Chiefs' Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes explain Travis Kelce’s slow start
- Alabama death row inmate's murders leaves voids in victims' families: 'I'll never forget'
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Kendall Jenner Frees the Nipple During Night Out With Gigi Hadid for Rosalía’s Birthday Party
Ranking
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- Hurricane Helene threatens ‘unsurvivable’ storm surge and vast inland damage, forecasters say
- Suspect arrested after Tucson junior college student killed on the University of Arizona campus
- 'Scamerton': This Detroit Bridgerton ball went so bad, it's being compared to Fyre Fest
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Hurricane Helene is unusual — but it’s not an example of the Fujiwhara Effect
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams vows to fight charges in criminal indictment
- Naomi Campbell banned from charity role for 5 years after financial investigation
Recommendation
Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
Inside Hoda Kotb's Private World: Her Amazing Journey to Motherhood
Judge directs NYC to develop plan for possible federal takeover of Rikers Island jail
Appeals court sends back part of Dakota Access oil pipeline protester’s excessive force lawsuit
$73.5M beach replenishment project starts in January at Jersey Shore
Moving homeless people from streets to shelter isn’t easy, San Francisco outreach workers say
Republican Wisconsin congressman falsely suggests city clerk was lying about absentee ballots
Pregnant Brittany Mahomes Shares “Best Picture” Ever Taken of Husband Patrick and Son Bronze