North America
Smoke from wildfires in Canada shrouds Chicago
The Chicago skyline is shrouded in haze. Wildfires in Canada combined with higher ozone levels continue to cause poor visibility and air quality warnings in the region. photo
© Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/AP/dpa
Numerous fires have been raging in Canada for weeks. Recently, the pictures of Rauch in New York caused a stir. The effects are now also being felt in large parts of the American Midwest.
The smoke from forest fires in Canada leads to bad air and reduced visibility in much of the US Midwest. The Great Lakes region bordering Canada was particularly affected by unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality, as shown on maps from the National Weather Service and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
In the metropolis of Chicago, Illinois, where the skyline was only dimly visible through the haze on Tuesday, the mayor called on children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with heart and lung problems to avoid strenuous activities and spend little time outside.
“Cities across North America have experienced unhealthy air quality this summer from wildfire smoke, impacting more than 20 million people in New York City, Washington DC, Montreal and here in Chicago today,” Mayor Brandon Johnson wrote on Facebook on Tuesday . The “worrying episode” highlights the damaging effects that the climate crisis is having on the city’s residents and people around the world.
Numerous fires have been raging in Canada for weeks. At the beginning of June, the smoke enveloped parts of the US east coast and caused the worst air quality in decades in the metropolis of New York. Even in Portugal, a cloud of smoke is currently darkening the sky – according to the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), this also comes from the fires in Canada.