Canadian Wildfire Smoke Blankets New England

MADEP Issues Air Quality Advisory; NOAA Announces Highest Level of Atmospheric CO2 in Millions of Years

(BOSTON) – A massive plume of smoke emitted from Canadian wildfires, approximately five hundred miles wide, and stretching across eastern North America from Lake Superior to Massachusetts Bay, has blanketed most of New England, leading the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) to issue an Air Quality Advisory for the entire Commonwealth.

“Due to smoke from Canadian wildfires that continue to influence our area, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is issuing a statewide air quality alert effective from midnight, June 6, 2023, until midnight, June 7, 2023,” states the advisory.

(Smoke pours across northeastern North America; credit — NOAA.)

“Elevated levels [of smoke] are forecast to remain in the state for much of the day on Tuesday. Air quality is expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups. Sensitive groups include people with heart or lung disease, such as asthma, older adults, children, teenagers, and people who are active outdoors. People with either lung disease or heart disease are at greater risk from exposure to ozone,” stated the advisory.

MADEP further advises that “people in sensitive groups should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion, take more breaks, do less intense activities, follow asthma action plans, and keep quick relief medicine handy.”

“Watch for symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath,” it said.

The massive fires have wreaked destruction across Canada, from Nova Scotia in the east, through northern Quebec and Ontario, and in northern parts of Alberta, British Columbia, and the adjacent Northwest Territories.