Staring south down New York’s Sixth Avenue, I suddenly realised that something was missing from the skyline.
It was One World Trade Centre, the 94-storey skyscraper erected in downtown Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks.
The smog from the Canadian wildfires had obscured my view of the building, giving an eerie echo of the toxic smoke that enveloped New York on 11 September, 2001.
On the streets today, 9/11 was on many people’s lips and I overheard three different groups of people talking about where they were the day of the terrorist attacks.
It was the most striking point of reference for another event that has brought New York to a standstill.
Not since the pandemic has daily life been interrupted so badly, and the sight of people wearing masks on the street compounded that. The difference is that, unlike during the Covid-19 pandemic, people were putting on masks to go outside, instead of indoors.
During what should have been a glorious summer week in New York, families and residents were hiding out in their homes just like they did during lockdowns, trying to avoid the smog, which smells similar to a bonfire, only it irritates your lungs more.
Every aspect of life was affected and as a giant plume billowed across the New York area, my son’s pre-school emailed all the parents saying they would not be allowed outside at playtime because of the smog.
Broadway shows like Hamilton were cancelled and the actress Jodie Comer, star of Killing Eve, halted a performance of her Tony-nominated show Prima Facie after 10 minutes because she couldn’t breathe the air. She was replaced by an understudy.
Zoos across the city were closed and animals were kept indoors. LaGuardia airport was put on a ground stop and flights were disrupted across the entire north-east of the US.
The Yankees game against the White Sox scheduled for Wednesday night was postponed due to the smog, while the Blues legend Taj Mahal cancelled a concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The Writers’ Guild of America even called off a picket in New York during its strike over pay and conditions with Hollywood studios.
During the worst part of the day on Wednesday – when New York had the worst air quality in the world – residents improvised air filters by using towels to block the vents on their air conditioners.
Rather than checking the weather forecast, people began checking the air quality to see if they could go outdoors.
A friend on the west coast of the US messaged me saying she hated “wildfire season”, a sobering reminder that large chunks of the country deals with this every year.
But it is not New York, or Washington, which is now covered in smog as well, that usually have to deal with the consequences.
Not since Hurricane Sandy in 2012 has New York faced such an in-your-face reminder of the dangers of climate change.
One would hope that President Biden, who couldn’t avoid seeing the smog from his office in the White House, would appreciate the stark evidence of how serious the problem is.