Close Your Windows, the Wildfire Smoke Is Back

Massive Canadian wildfires are messing up our air again and bringing hazy skies back to New York and other parts of the Northeast this week.

The entirety of New York State is under an air-quality health advisory Monday due to smoke stemming from the more than 740 active wildfires that have burned more than 16.5 million acres across Canada. The air-quality index is expected to reach 101 in the metro area and as high as 125 in Western New York, meaning conditions are considered to be “unhealthy for sensitive groups” including children, the elderly, and those who are pregnant or have heart or lung conditions. People in those groups are advised to limit their outdoor activities and to take more breaks if needed. (It’s also worth remembering that the same N95 and KN95 masks that work against COVID also protect against wildfire-smoke particulates.) Governor Kathy Hochul wrote on X that her team is monitoring conditions closely.

Over the weekend, the Midwest was blanketed by seemingly endless wildfire smoke with states like Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois being placed under advisories for hazardous air quality for days. On Friday, Detroit was one of 25 cities with the worst air quality in the world as a result of the wildfire smoke. As of Monday morning, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported there were at least 740 active fires burning across the country with 16 of the blazes starting today. The 2025 fire season is on track to be the second worst in Canada’s recorded history.

The Washington Post reports that the East Coast is set to receive an incoming high-pressure system that will likely trap the smoke in the area for most of the week. In addition to New York, parts of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut were under air-quality advisories as of Monday.

This week’s conditions are not expected to rival 2023, when days of thick wildfire smoke ground the region to a halt and briefly left New York City with the worst air quality in the world. Just last month, the city contended with a short influx of hazy air from the north, another sign that this is going to be a new perennial norm for New Yorkers.

Related

• What Wildfire Smoke Does to the Human Body