Thick, acrid smoke from wildfires burning in Canada descended over a wide swath of the United States on Thursday, darkening skies from the Great Lakes all the way to portions of the East Coast. The smoky conditions cut down visibility for morning commuters and triggered urgent warnings about dangerous air quality that made going outside a health risk.
Detroit found itself among the worst-ranked major cities in the world for air quality, according to Steven Freitag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service based in Pontiac, Michigan. He explained that a stubborn high pressure system held smoke in place from dozens of fires burning in Canada and northern Minnesota, while northwest winds carried that smoke directly into Michigan.
“Sure enough, it arrived in force here and it’s really pretty extreme levels,” Freitag said, adding that visibility in certain areas dropped to just half a mile.
Across the broader Great Lakes region, multiple cities recorded air quality readings ranging from unhealthy to outright hazardous. Health experts noted that fine particles found in wildfire smoke pose particular dangers to children and individuals living with conditions like asthma or heart disease.
In the New York City area, a heavy yellowish-orange haze settled over the morning skyline, obscuring the view of Manhattan’s well-known skyline for much of the day.
City officials opened cooling centers in response, while health authorities advised New Yorkers to cut back on intense or lengthy outdoor activities and to remain in air-conditioned environments as much as possible.
State officials distributed tens of thousands of masks capable of filtering out 95% of tiny airborne particles — including dust and smog — at Penn Station, Grand Central, and other major transit locations across the city.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that public schools, parks, and other city agencies were adjusting their schedules and programming, moving events indoors and rescheduling activities as air quality was expected to deteriorate further throughout the day.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a health advisory covering air quality across the entire state.
The agency warned of potential short-term spikes reaching “very unhealthy” levels, stretching from Buffalo in the western part of the state through Rochester near Lake Ontario, into Syracuse in the central region, and down to the greater New York City metropolitan area.
