Smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires cast a persistent haze Wednesday over populous areas of the eastern U.S., and could last for days, as polluted air sent people with asthma to their doctors, disrupted air travel, postponed professional sports games and altered school schedules.
The smoky skies—with an eerie orange tint in New York City—rattled parts of the country unaccustomed to dealing with the lingering effects of widespread wildfires. Officials reported a flood of 911 calls in Pennsylvania and an uptick in emergency room visits in some parts of New York.
I was part of a team for The Wall Street Journal that chronicled the smoke, which by the early afternoon darkened the skies of Lower Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon. I was there with Erin Ailworth, who has started covering New York City for the WSJ. We’ll be working closely together, but if you’re reading this and you’re someone who interacts with the media or has ideas for stories involving the five boroughs, drop Erin a note! Her previous roles at the Journal include reporting on utility companies and natural disasters before a recent stint as a recruiter.
Things in New York started improving by Thursday after wind patterns changed, and marquee events like the National Puerto Rican Day Parade and the Belmont Stakes went on as planned. But the seeds have been planted for these kinds of disruptions to happen more often in the future.
Wildfires like those ravaging Canada are becoming bigger and more frequent as forests around the world increasingly dry out amid the warming climate, my colleagues reported. That is because the Arctic region has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the world, said Carly Phillips, a Boston-based research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
In the boreal areas—mostly conifer forests with long winters and short summers—of Canada and Alaska, she said the annual area burned has nearly doubled in the past 60 years, along with an increase in the frequency of large fires. Russia’s vast Siberian forests have been consumed by giant fires, too. Phillips said this year’s outbreak, while unprecedented in size, is just following the trend.
“I don’t know if it’s a tipping point, but what this underscores is that the climate crisis is here and now,” Phillips said.
THE SANDWICH: If you don’t already subscribe to my friend Katie Honan’s Substack, you should. She’s a brilliant writer and has a great eye for stories about New York City, where she was born, raised and educated.
Katie recently wrote a beautiful ode to The Sandwich — an artichoke parm that comes from Mama Louisa’s Hero Shoppe in Brooklyn’s Prospect Lefferts Garden neighborhood. It’s a unique concoction, and while making my mouth water with her descriptions of taste and texture, Katie also traced the hero’s roots and the shop’s history.
I can’t wait to try one!
THE QUESTION: When was the last time air quality in New York City was this bad?
Have an answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: Thanks for all the fun suggestions for Germany! I’ll be sure to chronicle some of the highlights in this newsletter.