Travellers heading to New York have been warned that they could face delays as flights have been impacted from the smoke from Canadian wildfires. A haze of smoke has spread across the US east coast and the mid-west as Canadian officials fight more than 400 blazes nearby.
Flights have been delayed at major airports due to the smoke, along with Major League Baseball games, while residents in New York have been advised to limit outdoor activities. The air quality in the city is reaching nearly hazardous levels.
On Wednesday The Federal Aviation Administration paused some flights bound for LaGuardia Airport and slowed planes to Newark Liberty and Philadelphia because the smoke was limiting visibility. It also contributed to delayed arrivals at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.
READ MORE:
Delays are set to continue on Thursday, The FAA warned. It wrote on Twitter: “Reduced visibility from wildfire smoke will continue to impact air travel today. We will likely need to take steps to manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte.”
The expanses of unhealthy air have extended as far as North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people. On Thursday (June 6) the Air Quality Index (AQI), which features six levels of concern, stated the current air quality in New York was classed at level five - ‘very unhealthy’. This means that “the risk of health effects is increased for everyone”.
Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the nation’s worst wildfire season ever. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated very quickly, exhausting firefighting resources across the country, fire and environmental officials said.
Smoke from the blazes in various parts of the country has been lapping into the US since last month but intensified with a recent spate of fires in Quebec. More than 950 fire fighters and other personnel have been drafted in from the US, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to help tackle the fires.
Meanwhile the smoke is expected to spread across the Atlantic to Norway, officials there have said on Thursday. Scientists with the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute (NILU) used a forecast model to predict how the smoke will travel through the atmosphere.
The smoke has moved over Greenland and Iceland since June 1 and observations in southern Norway have recorded increasing concentrations of aerosolized particles, the independent research institution said.
“We may be able to see some haze or smell smoke,” Nikolaos Evangeliou, a senior NILU researcher, said. “However, we do not believe that the number of particles in the air here in Norway will be large enough to be harmful to our health.”
For more of today's top stories, click here.
READ NEXT:
