June 7, 2023 Canada wildfire smoke and US air quality news

Schools across the Northeast are canceling outdoor activities on Wednesday due to poor air quality. Here are some of the announcements:

New York: New York City's public schools are open but will be canceling all outdoor events, the school district said in a statement on its website.

Chappaqua Central School District in Westchester County, New York, is dismissing all of its students early on Wednesday due to the ongoing air quality conditions, according to an announcement on the district’s website. While a Board of Education meeting will proceed as scheduled, all after-school activities have been canceled, the district said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is urging other school districts across the state to also cancel their outdoor activities, according to a statement from her office.

Washington, DC: Public schools canceled outdoor activities Wednesday. "This includes recess, outdoor Physical Education classes, athletic practices and competitions, and any school-specific events or field trips intended for the outdoors," DC Public Schools said in a tweet. The city is noticeably smoky throughout the area due to wildfires in Canada.

Montgomery County, Maryland: Outdoor activities are canceled for Wednesday and Thursday, and any field trips will need to be rescheduled, according to a message from the school district. The county includes several suburbs of Washington, DC, including Bethesda and Rockville. The public school district has over 158,000 students and is the largest school system in Maryland.

Fairfax County, Virginia: All afternoon and evening outdoor activities for the Fairfax County Public School District in Virginia have been canceled Wednesday, due to ongoing poor air quality, according to an announcement on the school district’s website. 

The activities include extracurriculars, interscholastic contests, team practices, after-school programs and recreation programs, the district said.

A statewide Air Quality Advisory has been issued for Ohio as a result of the Canadian wildfires, according to a statement from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The advisory is in effect all of Wednesday. Officials will assess the air quality on Thursday and determine if the advisory needs to be extended, an Ohio EPA spokesperson said.

The air quality is in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” to “unhealthy" ranges, the statement said.

When the quality is in this range, residents in sensitive groups — including children, the elderly and people with asthma — are advised to avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity, it said.

Smoke from Canada’s wildfires has forced the closure of at least three horse racing tracks on the US East Coast.

Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack in Farmington, New York, canceled racing until Monday, according to a message at the top of its website.

Racing has also been canceled at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Delaware, due to air quality for Wednesday and Thursday, its website says.

In Grantville, Pennsylvania, racing was halted for Wednesday due "extremely poor air quality index" at Penn National Race Course, according to its website. 

The New York Racing Association also canceled Thursday's training at Belmont Park due to "poor air quality conditions" forecast for the state.

A decision on Thursday's live racing program will be made in the morning following a "review of the air quality conditions and forecast," the NYRA said.

Training at Saratoga Race Course has also been canceled for Thursday, the association added. 

The thickest smoke from Canada's wildfires on Wednesday stretched from Lake Ontario to Long Island and was slowly pushing south. It will persist in the New York City metro and across much of New Jersey through Wednesday evening and into the overnight.

But the winds will also start to push that thick band of smoke farther south into the Mid-Atlantic — into cities like Washington, DC, and Baltimore. By Thursday morning, Delaware, Maryland, northern Virginia and the nation’s capital could see some of the worst air quality from the same smoke that plagued New York City on Wednesday.

While Thursday may be an improvement for many in the New York area – there is still likely to be significant smoke, and air quality could be nearing or reaching unhealthy levels yet again.

Unfortunately for those in the Northeast, the weather pattern is not doing any favors. The low pressure that is funneling the smoke into the US is forecast to linger over New England through the weekend, which will mean northwest winds will continue to point the Canadian smoke toward the eastern Great Lakes and Northeast US for the next couple of days.

This pattern could eventually break by next week as a new storm system moves in from the west. Significant rainfall and stronger winds is exactly what the Northeast needs to clear out the smoke.

Unfortunately, the next few months could be a summer of smoke for Canada and the US, with the bulk of Canada’s fire season — which doesn’t typically end until September — still lying ahead.

A hot and dry spring has led to an incredibly active start to the fire season across almost all of Canada – and massive fires in Alberta and Saskatchewan started impacting air quality in the US and Canada back in May.

All of Pennsylvania's 67 counties are experiencing poor air quality from the wildfires burning in Canada, the governor said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said state authorities have been coordinating with Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Health to put out guidance to let people know that to expect over the next few days.

Shapiro said their projections show the air quality may get worse before getting better.  

The governor said he does not worry about sending his children to school, but advised that people use “common sense” when making decisions for their families.

 CNN’s Laura Ly contributed reporting to this post.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is among officials encouraging residents to stay inside as poor air quality affects the region.

Murphy said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has limited speed limits to 30 miles per hour on bridges due to poor visibility. 

He said he has a call scheduled with Canadian authorities where he expects to receive more information on the forecast.

Millions of people in the US are under air quality alerts as smoke from raging Canadian wildfires sweeps down the East Coast. Some schools in New York and Washington are canceling outdoor activities, and airports are facing delays or ground stops due to poor visibility.

The smoke can also cause health problems such as trouble breathing, burning eyes, dizziness, headache or nausea. Doctors say people whose symptoms are getting worse should get medical attention.

Here's how doctors answered some of the top questions about the smoke:

Why does wildfire smoke make it so difficult to breathe?

Dr. Shilpa Patel, medical director of Children’s National IMPACT DC Asthma Clinic in Washington, explained that wildfire smoke is "small, very tiny particulate matter that goes deep into the airways. It’s not an allergen; it’s an irritant. And so an irritant can affect anyone’s lungs and cause you to start coughing and feeling that throat itchiness."

Is there any way people can be protected while outside?

Our bodies do come equipped with some natural protection, according to Dr. Aida Capo, a pulmonologist with Hackensack Meridian Palisades Medical Center in New Jersey.

"Our nasal hairs can protect us from a lot of these particles. But these are really small particles from the wildfires, so it’s not enough,” Capo said.

Patel said you should avoid any kind of strenuous physical activity like running or jogging. You should also be in tune with your body throughout the day. The air quality could affect you later "because these are small particulates, so they go deep into your airways, and the response could be a little bit delayed," Patel said.

What helps air quality indoors?

Close your windows and turn on your air conditioner and air filters, Capo recommends.

Dr. Peter DeCarlo, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, agrees.

“Indoors are generally about half or less the concentration of air pollutants from outside when it comes to particles, which is what we’re concerned with here. And that all goes away as soon as you open your windows and doors and just let free-flowing air come in,” he said.

Read more from doctors.

Major League Baseball postponed two games Wednesday due to the poor air quality across the Northeast.

The league postponed a game scheduled to take place at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia between the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as a game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees that was to be held at Yankee Stadium.

The Phillies vs. Tigers game is rescheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET Thursday, the league said. The Yankees and White Sox are now scheduled to play a traditional doubleheader game at 4:05 p.m. ET Thursday, according to the MLB.

Around 75 million people are currently under air quality alerts that are directly related to the wildfire smoke that has poured in from Canada, according to a CNN Weather analysis.

The smoke has been widespread and alerts include more than a dozen states in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. 

Cities such as New York, Boston, Washington, DC, Charlotte, Detroit and Indianapolis are included.