Air quality alerts are in place on Thursday across at least 18 states, from Minnesota to New Hampshire to Virginia, as dangerous smoke continues to waft into the U.S. from Canadian wildfires, including more than 100 blazes burning out of control.
Smoke from at least 850 active wildfires in Canada is traveling more than a thousand miles to reach U.S. locations including New York City . At least another nine large fires are burning in northern Minnesota.
Parts of New York City were measuring AQI levels of over 200 Thursday evening, indicating “very unhealthy” air quality. AQI levels over 150 are dangerous for the general public, according to health officials.
On Thursday afternoon, Minneapolis surpassed Detroit for having the worst measured air quality in the world among major cities, according to the air quality monitoring website IQAir.
