Why is the sky yellow?
The cough-inducing, yellow-orange haze that has smothered New York City and created hazardous air-quality conditions is caused by smoke that’s been blown southward from hundreds of Canadian wildfires.
A low-pressure system is pushing the smoke down to the five boroughs and holding the smoke close to the ground, creating some of the worst air conditions in the world. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality health advisory for the city through midnight Thursday.
“Typically this smoke is elevated 10,000 feet above our heads, but when this process of vertical mixing in the atmosphere occurs, it mixes the air down to the surface again,” meteorologist John Homenuk said.
How much longer is this going to last?
All signs point to Friday being another bad — but slightly better — day when it comes to air quality. Meteorologists are predicting poor air quality through the weekend, albeit with gradual improvements.
New York started the day Thursday at the top of the list of cities with the worst air pollution in the world, with unhealthy levels of pollutants in the air. But conditions did not deteriorate as they did Wednesday.
Meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said Thursday evening that air quality will remain at unhealthy levels on Friday, but New Yorkers can expect to see gradual improvement throughout the day and into the weekend.
Air quality will still be at unhealthy levels, and experts are still urging those at risk — young people, older adults and those with respiratory and cardiovascular conditions — to take precautions.
Mayor Adams has advised all New Yorkers who can to remain indoors.
“Over the next few days things will progressively continue to get better,” City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said at a briefing Thursday.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s air quality health advisory for Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island as well as surrounding suburbs has been extended to midnight Friday.
Friday and over the weekend, New Yorkers can expect gradually improving air quality and rain showers early next week will help clean the air of the dangerous smoke particles.
“Still some lingering smoke conditions on Saturday, and then we’re going to have another system push through later in the weekend, which should allow for some clearing,” Ramsey said.
Should I even go outside?
Young people, older adults and people with underlying health issues should stay indoors and keep their windows shut. All others should also limit their exposure to the outdoors and take precautions.
Don’t exercise outdoors and seriously consider postponing your picnic plans. Across the city, outdoor concerts and other activities were being canceled.
“The main thing is to limit outdoor exposure and obviously any strenuous activity. You don’t want to be gasping for air and breathing this stuff in all day, if you can avoid it,” Homenuk said.
Mayor Adams escalated the city’s recommendations late Wednesday by advising all New Yorkers to stay indoors unless they need to be outside.
Does a KN-95 or N95 mask work against the smoke?
With all the nasty air particles floating around, experts say you should wear a mask if you do venture out.
Just like with COVID, the stronger the mask, the better, although any face covering is better than none, said Ramon Tallaj, a doctor who leads SOMOS Community Care, a nonprofit health network.
Tallaj had a tip for those who may only have surgical masks on hand: Flip the mask so that the smoother, blue side is on the inside, near your mouth.
“Surgeons use it with the blue part outside, because they don’t want their mouth and their breathing to go inside the patients during surgery,” Tallaj said. “In this case, it’s the other way around. You don’t want the [particles] to come to you.”
But otherwise, N95 masks are the best.
“They’re the masks that are going to filter out these particles most effectively. So if you still have an N95 mask or you want to go grab one, it’s recommended to wear them because they do filter the harmful particles out, at least to some degree,” Homenuk said.
Is this just uncomfortable or dangerous?
Both.
You’ll know you’ve been affected if your eyes start itching or get watery, if you develop a cough or shortness of breath and your throat might ache. If you don’t have preexisting conditions like asthma or a heart condition, these symptoms can fade within days as long as air quality improves.
For people who have conditions like asthma, heart disease or other respiratory conditions, the smoke can be dangerous.
Barbara Mann, a pulmonologist at Mount Sinai-National Jewish Respiratory Institute, said that the poor air quality means an increased risk of heart attacks and respiratory conditions like asthma.
What is the city doing?
Mayor Adams has canceled outdoor activities at New York City public schools today and is telling New Yorkers to “limit outdoor activity to the greatest extent possible.” The city’s Health Department says they’re monitoring the situation.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality health advisory for Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island as well as surrounding suburbs that extends through midnight Friday.
The state’s Department of Health recommends “individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects.”
Adams and his administration are facing criticism after waiting until late Tuesday night to issue an advisory about school outdoor activity cancellations, causing some confusion among parents and teachers as to how to proceed.
Could this happen again?
Yes.
While the conditions that produced this week’s hazardous air quality are rare, experts agree that as global temperatures rise, wildfires like the one in Quebec will become bigger and more frequent in the years ahead. And this is just the start of wildfire season in North America.
“Canada has 9% of the world’s forests, and this year’s fire season has actually occurred early in Canada,” Zach Iscol, Adams’ emergency management commissioner said in a press conference on Wednesday. “The intensity, as well as the number of fires, is far higher than earlier. Usually, it peaks in July, so this is something that can continue to see possibly over the next few months.”
Mayor Adams stressed that climate change appears to be a factor in the severity of the fires and said he believes it should be a wake-up call.
“Climate change is going to force us to rethink the conditions that we are going to be facing, and we are going to have to rethink how do we encourage people to use not only public transportation, but keep stockpiles of N95s when needed,” he said. “This is a new universe that we’re in.”
