NOTE: A live look at Chicago’s skyline will appear in the player above.
Wildfire smoke has brought poor visibility and even worse air quality to Chicago and its surrounding suburbs Thursday.
More than 100 wildfires are burning in Canada and winds are carrying the smoke southeast.
In the Chicago area, air quality ranged from very unhealthy to hazardous as the city joined several others across the U.S. to see the smokey conditions.
The skyline was nearly completely covered by smoke as conditions forced area beaches and pools to close and sparked warnings across the region.
Videos and photos from the area Thursday morning showed hazy, reddish-brownish skies with limited visibility, especially near the lakefront. Traffic cameras showed smoky, hazy commutes spanning from DuSable Lake Shore Drive to the northwest suburbs.
And Chicago is far from the only city seeing these conditions.
All of Michigan and much of Minnesota were under a hazardous air quality alert.
Detroit’s air quality was among the worst in the world for major cities, said Steven Freitag, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Pontiac, Michigan.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, the air was “glowing yellow,” said Brent Williams, head of the soil, water and climate department at the University of Minnesota, who said the area “could be looking at weeks to months of continued smoke and flare-ups off and on as the winds blow in different directions.”
Cities across the Great Lakes states registered air quality ranging from unhealthy to hazardous — which means it’s unhealthy for anyone, regardless of health conditions. Microscopic particles can lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, leading to heart and lung problems and contributing to other long-term health issues.
In the Chicago area, experts have said the smoke could linger through Friday, but there’s a chance for more to return after that.
from NBC Chicago https://ift.tt/jdGbX1Y
No comments:
Post a Comment