Why This Matters
Between July 14 and July 20, 2026, more than 120 million Americans in the Midwest and Northeast lived under air quality alerts caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires burning in Ontario. Detroit, Minneapolis, and Chicago were among the most polluted major cities in the world on July 16, according to IQAir. Baltimore and Washington, D.C. recorded PM2.5 concentrations near 200 micrograms per cubic meter — more than 13 times above the 15 micrograms that the EPA considers safe for 24-hour exposure. The smoke was so thick some residents said they could taste it.
