Cities across Canada and the U.S. are dealing with smoke-filled skies as air quality warnings were issued in wake of the hundreds of wildfires from Quebec and Ontario.
Photos show hazy smoke clouding famous landmarks like Toronto’s CN Tower and New York’s One World Trade Center as well as surrounding buildings across skylines. Orange and red tints of wildfire smoke cover the skies reducing visibility and air quality.
According to Environment Canada’s Air Quality Health Index, wildfire smoke has categorized the air quality as “unhealthy” in southern Quebec and eastern Ontario.
On Tuesday morning, IQAir reported New York topped the list of the world’s worst air pollution—a direct impact of the 150 active wildfires burning in Quebec this week, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
Air quality alerts were also issued for upstate New York and the U.S. Midwest and wildfire smoke seeped into cities like Detroit and Chicago.
Flights into New York were delayed and some briefly paused due to reduced visibility, Wednesday morning.
Nearly nine million acres have been charred by wildfires in Canada so far this year, with close to half a million acres burned across Quebec alone, prompting mass evacuations. Smog warnings have been put in place in Quebec including the city of Montreal and local officials have insisted people stay indoors.
With files from CNN, CTVNews.ca’s Tara De Boer and Reuters
