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NYC's unhealthy air quality may improve for World Cup final

Brian K. Sullivan and Jessica Kim, Bloomberg News on

Published in News & Features

Washington’s air improved slightly on Friday while New York City could be blanketed by more wildfire smoke later in the day, though forecasts indicate skies will be clear enough for Sunday’s World Cup final to take place in New Jersey.

As smoke from scores of wildfires raging in Canada spread across the Great Lakes into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, U.S. President Donald Trump alleged his northern neighbor is “responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests.”

Trump said he planned to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “to find out what they are going to do about it,” while also threatening to increase tariffs on Canada in response to the trans-border smoke. Canada’s boreal forest is particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures driven by climate change.

Air quality remains “unhealthy” in Washington and for sensitive groups in most of New York City on Friday. Air quality alerts stretch from Minnesota to Connecticut in the U.S. and from the Northwest Territories to Ontario in Canada, according to IQAir.

A weather front will sweep across the Northeast bringing rain to New York Saturday even as smoke flows into the area. The worst should pass by Sunday when Spain and Argentina meet in the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The current forecast calls for clear skies with a high of 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius).

“Sunday will not be terrible for the World Cup,” said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center. “Everything we see is that the smoke will be clearing on Sunday.”

Longer term, the smoke will likely fluctuate across the Midwest, Northeast and southern Canada for weeks to come as hundreds of forest fires rage unchecked. For the last week, billows of soot and ash have dimmed the sun and raised health issues for millions of people.

Detroit, Chicago, and Washington ranked among the world’s most polluted major cities Friday, according to IQAir that collates data from 80,000 sensors globally.

 

Larger weather patterns and the widespread nature of the fires means the rest of July may end up with days of smoke across New York and the Northeast, Oravec said.

“I don’t think it is going away,” Oravec said. “It is going to change where it is going and there will be day-to-day fluctuations across the region. But as long as the fires keep burning there will be smoke.”

The northern regions of Ontario had about 190 active forest fires burning as of Friday morning, with dozens of them listed as out of control. Ten communities have been evacuated or have evacuations underway, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said during a news conference. The provincial government issued an additional evacuation order on Friday for a region that’s around 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ontario-Minnesota border.

Rain is in the forecast for parts of northwestern Ontario, potentially providing some relief.

Some southern cities in Ontario, including Toronto, had much clearer air on Friday after being enveloped by smoke on Wednesday and Thursday, turning the sky orange. There’s a risk of the air quality getting worse again over the weekend, according to forecasts from the Canadian government’s environment service.

(Vivien Ngo and Derek Wallbank contributed to this report.)


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