Smoke Map Forecast Usa Air Quality: How Well Do Wildfires End Up Traveling Long Distances? A Conversation with Jason West

Millions of Americans were under air quality alert on Thursday as the smoke from Canadian wildfires fills the skies.

The haze — which contains particulate matter that poses both short- and long-term health risks — has disrupted air travel, sporting events and all sorts of outdoor activities.

Officials are warning people, especially children, the elderly and those with heart and respiratory conditions, to take precautions and stay inside until the smoke clears, which could take days.

William Vizuete, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says there’s no one you can do about the atmosphere. We need to understand those processes so that we can eventually understand what we’re exposed to.

Air quality is likely to get worse in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region as the weather pattern persists, but it is possible that it will improve near the East Coast.

Canada’s government is forecasting higher-than-normal fire activity across much of the country through August, with officials calling it on track for its worst wildfire season to date.

There are firefighters from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, France and the United States helping out. The U.S. has so far deployed more than 600 firefighters and support personnel to Canada.

Jason West, a professor of environmental sciences and engineering at UNC Chapel Hill, says it’s not unheard of for wildfire smoke to travel long distances: The last few years have seen cases where smoke from West Coast fires ended up on the East Coast. He says that this year is notable due to the number of fires in Canada.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1181063117/smoke-map-forecast-usa-air-quality

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He says the situation offers a window into what we might expect to see in the future, as climate change brings about more frequent and extreme weather events — from floods to fires to heat waves — in different places.

West explains that precipitation and wind can change the direction of smoke in the air, so a change in weather can improve air quality.

The smoke is expected to begin to go away over the weekend, but may not fully go away until a storm system moves in from the west early next week.

Several experts who spoke with NPR recommended making your own fan filters, and checking online to see the air quality in your area.

“We’ve spent a lot of time trying to develop ways to measure air quality and create an air quality index that can easily communicate what that means to the public,” he says, “and I think we’re seeing some of the fruits of that.”

For the last year and a half, Christina Lamoureux and her fiancé have tried to predict every possible obstacle that might interfere with their wedding in Washington, DC, on Saturday.

We had a plan for rain, for storms and for heat and humidity in the District. We had to consider if President Biden might do something that day, because it’s going to be close to the White House.

They never imagined that the cloud of potentially poisonous, thick orange haze over their wedding pictures would be something they never saw coming.

“The air quality is something you never think you have to worry about,” she said with a laugh, adding that now is the singular thought in her mind.

“I didn’t fully understand when I first went outside [on Wednesday] morning what was happening. But it’s really crazy to be in Virginia and smell smoke in your hair from Canada,” Lamoureux, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia, admitted.

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Until this week, when she thought of her wedding, the 28-year-old lawyer, who is getting married at the historic Daughter’s of the American Revolution building near the National Mall, pictured herself and her 100 guests celebrating among the elegant beaux-arts style columns on a clear summer day.

She mentioned that the view from the venue may not be as clear now because of the weather.

If a predicted shift in winds can push the smoke out of the Atlantic before Saturday, Lamoureux and other soon-to-be married couples and wedding-goers will have a better chance of getting married.

a bride in Canada decried the situation she is in, due to the rash of wildfires in Quebec that are causing alarming conditions

“The air quality in Toronto due to the wildfires is gonna be so bad this whole week, including my wedding day which sounds so selfish but I’m just [sad face emoji]’” she tweeted.

A.Z. Madonna, a reporter for the Boston Globe, also took to the platform seeking advice: “I’m participating in an outdoor wedding this coming weekend in Brooklyn. Will a KN 95 protect me if the air quality doesn’t improve, or will I need an N95 to do so?

Lamoureux is also worried about the well-being of her guests who are flying in from California, Colorado, and other states that have not been affected by the fires.

If the situation doesn’t improve soon, Lamoureux intends to switch gears and go with a “rain plan” that would move the dinner and dancing reception from the portico into one of the building’s many rooms.

But taking a more macro view of the current state of the environment, and the broader impacts of the pollution in the air that is posing short and long-term health risks for millions of people, Lamoureux sounded a bit more melancholy.

A crisis like this, she said, illustrates “just how connected the world is and how much actions in one part of the world impact how every part of the world, especially when it comes to climate change.”