An air quality alert is in effect for all five NYC counties through Tuesday night and conditions were deemed “unhealthy” as of 4 pm.
“People with respiratory problems such as asthma should reduce overexertion outdoors,” the city warned in a message on social media.
Air Quality Health Advisory: Until 12:00 AM on 7/21. People w/respiratory concerns such as asthma should reduce heavy exertion outdoors. Info: https://t.co/qrjF4dYyPo. Multilingual & ASL Link: https://t.co/PefNUSKD4R
— NYCEM – Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) July 20, 2021
The poor air quality is due to smoke from wildfires drifting east from the west coast which created foggy conditions and triggered the air quality alert.
Particles from wildfires in the west combined with moisture in the city and produced the haze, which is expected to linger for several days.
“This is one of the least healthy air quality days in New York in a long time,” New York Metro Weather reported in another post on social media.
The AQI is now near or over 150 in many locations in the NYC Metro, which is unhealthy. PM2.5 concentration is now 73.7 µg/m³, which is 7 times the exposure recommendation from WHO. This is one of the most unhealthy air quality days in NYC in quite some time. pic.twitter.com/v9XbjhKL4X
— New York Metro Weather (@nymetrowx) July 20, 2021
“People with respiratory problems, such as asthma, should reduce strenuous exertion outdoors,” the five-county Department of Emergency Management warned.
Later, the New York Metro Weather put another message on twitter in which an image illustrates what it describes as “terrible air quality in NYC.”
Concentration of wildfire smoke in the low levels of the atmosphere is creating low visibility and terrible air quality in NYC this afternoon. Here’s an image of the NYC skyline just a few moments ago via @EarthCam. pic.twitter.com/goZkfkeqUH
— New York Metro Weather (@nymetrowx) July 20, 2021
As of Tuesday, at least 60 wildfires were burning in 12 western states. The fires were “injecting smoke 40,000 feet into the atmosphere and compromising air quality” in states like Oregon, Washington and Idaho, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
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