Air quality alerts remain in effect for many areas of New England, as smoke from the Canadian wildfires blankets the Northeast in a hazy fog that has the potential to cause negative health effects.
For the Boston area, it seems that the worst has passed, but other areas are still seeing notable impacts from the smoke, including Connecticut, western Massachusetts and on Friday, the South Coast area along with Rhode Island.
Flights into New York's LaGuardia Airport have been disrupted as well, including some from Boston Logan International Airport.
How long will the smoke last?
Images of Northeastern cityscapes draped in an eerie orange hue have been circulating social media sites — particularly the iconic Manhattan skyline, which was practically unrecognizable on Wednesday through all the smoke coming from north of the border.
New York City has eclipsed other cities around the globe at different points this week on rankings of worst air quality amid the smog. Major League Baseball's Yankees and Phillies had their games postponed, and two Broadway shows canceled performances due to the poor air quality.
And with weather systems expected to hardly budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.
The weather system that’s driving the great Canadian-American smoke out — a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia — “will probably be hanging around at least for the next few days,” U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said.
“Conditions are likely to remain unhealthy, at least until the wind direction changes or the fires get put out,” Ramsey said. “Since the fires are raging — they’re really large — they’re probably going to continue for weeks. But it’s really just going be all about the wind shift.”
Air quality in Boston now
Boston has also felt impacts — albeit not as severe — and experts say that the situation can be dangerous for people who have breathing issues.
“Those particles are small enough to get down in to the alveoli in our lungs and can start causing a lot of damage there," Dr. Jennifer Stowell with the Boston University School of Public Health said. "Our bodies react with a lot of inflammation which can harm the lungs.”
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection says that if you are in these conditions and are sensitive to the air, it's probably a good idea to cut down on outdoor activities, take more breaks, keep asthma medicine handy and watch for symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
