Smoke gets in your eyes, lungs, etc ...

[edschweppe]

The joy of living in New England: we're downwind of the entire damn continent. In this case, smoke from Canadian wildfires has been causing poor air quality:

You should consider skipping that outdoor workout today. Wildfire smoke is expected to blanket Massachusetts for another day on Wednesday, posing potential health risks, the state Department of Environmental Protection said.

The DEP has issued an air quality alert, effective until midnight, and warned that sensitive groups and, in some areas everyone, should reconsider heavy outdoor exertion.

The levels of fine particulate pollution, or PM2.5, will on average be in the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" range in much of the state Wednesday, the DEP said.

Western sections of the state were likely to be hit hardest, with the more dangerous "Unhealthy" level "likely at times," the agency said.

PM2.5 pollution is fine particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or less in width, or about 30 times thinner than the width of a single hair. PM2.5 pollution is caused by power plants, motor vehicles, burning wood or heating oil, and some industrial processes. It can be produced indoors by smoking, cooking, burning candles, and operating fireplaces.

That's bad, but not nearly as bad as in New York City and parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York state, where air quality index readings for PM2.5 were over 400 at times:

NEW YORK (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports, postponing Major League Baseball games and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.

Canadian officials asked other countries for additional help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide that already have displaced 20,000 people. Air with hazardous levels of pollution extended into the New York metropolitan area, central New York state and parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people.

"I can taste the air," Dr. Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, which was enveloped in an amber pall. The smoke, he later said by phone, even made him a bit dizzy.

The air quality index, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency metric for air pollution, exceeded a staggering 400 at times in Syracuse, New York City and Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. A level of 50 or under is considered good; anything over 300 is considered "hazardous," when even healthy people are advised to curtail outdoor physical activity.

Locally, things have gotten better; according to the helpful AirNow.gov site, my local AQI is down to 26 (and the PM2.5 AQI is down to 24!).