A fresh round of wildfires in Canada and the US is again clouding skies in both countries, with smoke from blazes in Ontario and Minnesota drifting into New York City and across the US Northeast and Midwest. Toronto woke Wednesday to a dim, orange-tinged sun and thick haze, prompting Environment Canada to issue an air quality alert and warn of health risks for people spending time outside, the New York Times reports. The smoke is expected to create unhealthy air conditions for around 100 million Americans in the coming days, with forecasters warning that it will drift across the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic from Wednesday to Friday, reports the Washington Post.
The smoke is being pinned down by a heat dome that has driven temperatures close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Ontario, the Northeast, and parts of the Midwest. In Minnesota, authorities have issued an air quality alert for areas including the Twin Cities, the AP reports. Tyler Hasenstein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minnesota, says people should stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the heat and the smoke. "Those two things coinciding with each other is not good from a health perspective," he says.
In Ontario, the fires have forced evacuations in at least six rural and First Nations communities near Thunder Bay, where residents of Namaygoosisagagun First Nation left by boat, the Times reports. "An entire First Nations community has been erased because of this disaster," provincial lawmaker Sol Mamakwa said of the community. In New York City, officials don't expect conditions to be as bad as they were in 2023, when smoke from Canadian wildfires turned the sky orange. The highest smoke concentration this time is likely to be in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and western New York state, the Post reports.
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