New York was the most polluted major city in the world on Tuesday night, as smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed the city in haze, according to the IQAir website.
Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/BloombergThe Hazardous Smoke Affecting Millions of North Americans
Photographs show dense haze blanketing major cities and eerie sunrises
Hundreds of wildfires burning across Canada continued to blanket North American cities, including New York, with choking smoke on Wednesday, raising serious health concerns. Millions of people were affected as air quality alerts stretched across Quebec and Ontario, and from New York and New England to South Carolina in the US. Schools cancelled sports events and municipal governments urged people to stay inside. A chart of hourly air quality readings for Kingston, Ontario, a lakeside tourist city near the Thousand Islands region, showed pollution extending beyond the maximum measurement scale. Authorities on both sides of the border warned that the situation will likely worsen as a low pressure system funnels smoke from Quebec across eastern Ontario and over the US border. Almost four million hectares of forest have burned so far in Canada, in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said is the worst wildfire season for the country in recorded history.