Thunderstorms Should Clear Smoke Before World Cup Final

Smoke from Canadian wildfires that has engulfed the Northeast in haze is expected to mostly clear from the New Jersey area just in time for the World Cup final on Sunday afternoon, assisted by thunderstorms passing through, meteorologists said. Still, warnings of unhealthy air remained in effect Saturday across a wide swath of the US, the AP reports. President Trump, who planned to attend the Spain-Argentina match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, has blamed Canada for the smoke crossing the border.

At MetLife Stadium, the sky Saturday was the same thick, soupy gray it has been for days, even after a drenching thunderstorm prompted warnings of flash flooding and forced the Spanish team to suspend its last outdoor training session. After the rain cleared, Joost Timpers and his two sons, tourists from the Netherlands, were among fans taking photos outside the open-air venue, which has been renamed the New York/New Jersey Stadium for the matches. They did not have tickets to the final but biked more than an hour from their hotel just to see the arena up close. Timpers said he was certain players and fans will fare just fine even if conditions do not improve. "We're not experts in air quality, of course, but we are experiencing the quality now," he said. "I didn't experience anything different from cycling in the Netherlands or anywhere else."

"There could be some lingering smoke that would make things hazy, but very faint," said Tyler Roys, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. "In terms of the thickest smoke, the smoke that has really been eye-popping and leads to poor air quality, that is not expected across New York City or much of the Northeast." WFLA-TV Chief Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli, in Tampa, Florida, echoed Roys, saying the storm front would "sweep the atmosphere clean," leaving only a thin smoke that World Cup spectators may still smell in the air. The air quality index showed an improvement from unhealthy air for sensitive groups on Saturday to "moderate" air quality on Sunday in East Rutherford, which means little to no health risk for the general public. "It won't be dangerous anymore," Berardelli said.