Air quality continued to be poor in the Northeast on Friday, but conditions improved across much of the Midwest as rain and winds from the west and south began to disperse smoke from wildfires from Canada that swept across much of the country this week had hung.
Rain and southerly winds are expected to continue through most of the eastern United States at least through July 4, clearing the way for fireworks, barbecues and other outdoor activities over the holiday weekend, said David Roth, forecaster at the Federal Weather Prediction Center.
An exception to the general clearing trend could be Minnesota, where the lack of rainfall means “the smoke will be more persistent there,” Mr. Roth said.
According to AirNow.gov, an air quality data source operated by the Environmental Protection Agency, air quality in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, was rated as “very unhealthy” or “hazardous” at various times this week. According to AirNow, skies in all three cities began to clear on Friday afternoon and air pollution was only moderate.
Conditions are expected to continue to improve across much of the Midwest Friday night through Saturday as storms gather, Mr Roth said.
“This rain will wash everything out of the air,” he said.
Unhealthy levels of ozone and particulate matter in the air were reported Friday in the northeast from Wilmington, Delaware to Albany, NY, AirNow said. The air is likely to clear as the southerly wind drives the remaining wildfire smoke back toward Canada, Mr Roth said.
The resulting weather pattern is likely to keep skies clear of smoke over most of the northeast through early Wednesday, he added. However, he warned that the location and size of new wildfires could not be accurately predicted, meaning smoke forecasts were good for 24 hours at most.
The gradually improving conditions came after a week in which millions of people in the Great Lakes region, parts of the Midwest, Northeast and mid-Atlantic struggled with smoke obscuring the skyline and making it difficult for some to breathe.
Lino Alayo, 42, a landscaper on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, began Friday morning checking the air quality on his phone, followed by three pumps of his asthma inhaler. Aware of the potential health risks, he said he forces himself to work slower these days. “I just have to learn to adapt if this is to be the new normal,” Mr Alayo said. “It raises a lot of fears.”
John Valentin, 53, a construction manager who lives and works on the Upper West Side, said he gargled with Listerine to relieve irritation in his throat. He said he spent Friday removing a thin layer of soot from his building’s window sills and locking stairwell windows after elderly tenants complained about air quality.
Other New Yorkers were less concerned about the conditions. Consuela Agudelo, 77, was waiting for a bus in Queens on Friday morning and like most people on the street was not wearing a mask, although she had some in her purse.
“I don’t apply it because I can’t feel anything,” said Ms. Agudelo. “Plus it’s so hot with a mask on. As I left my house, I could smell the smoke.
“But it’s not as bad as it was the first time,” she added, referring to the days earlier this month when smoke from wildfires turned the air in New York orange.
In Michigan, the State Department of the Environment expanded a nationwide air quality warning for Saturday. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the statewide warning would end Friday, but regional warnings would remain in place Saturday for the Adirondacks, the Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island, and air quality remained dangerous enough to vulnerable areas affecting groups. In Minnesota, Maryland And Washington, D.CHealth and environmental authorities warned people with health conditions to continue to take precautions even as air conditions slowly improved.
On Friday morning, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in an interview with radio station 1010 WINS that officials have not yet decided whether the July 4th fireworks display will go ahead as planned. As conditions improved throughout the day, so did the fireworks forecasts. In the late afternoon, Kayla Mamelak, a spokeswoman for Mr Adams, said: “I am not aware of any conversation that could be cancelled.”
In East Baltimore, Maryland, Carey Lawston carried two plastic bags full of groceries up a hill on Friday afternoon. He needed a breather with a quarter of a mile to go home, so he sat down on a bench at a bus stop.
As he paused, Mr. Lawston, 38, looked out at the rushing traffic and smoke partially obscuring the Baltimore skyline to the west. The smoke didn’t make his trip difficult, he said, but it was a constant visual reminder of the poor air quality.
“It seemed like it was getting lighter,” Mr Lawston said. “Yesterday was difficult. When I went outside, I reconsidered.”
He added that he fears the lingering haze could ruin his run to the store, thwarting his plans for a relaxing weekend outside and enjoying the smell of smoke from his BBQ.
Hundreds of miles to the west, a cloud of polluted air hung over the northwest portion of North Dakota on Friday. Ryan Mills, who leads the air monitoring program for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, said a low-pressure weather system pulled the wildfire smoke from Canada almost directly south, where it hovered low above the ground in high-elevation areas.
On Friday morning, Mr. Mills was at his office in Bismarck, the state capital, when he received a call from his in-laws in Garrison, 75 miles northwest. They had a pressing question: would the skies ever clear up?
“It’s getting better and better as we talk,” he told them.
According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, more than 500 wildfires were burning across Canada as of Friday afternoon, nearly half of which were spiraling out of control. Canada’s wildfire season started several weeks earlier this year, meaning the fires could impact air quality across North America for weeks.
Sarah Maslin Nir, Adam Bednar and Jon Hurdle contributed coverage.