Air quality looking up for July 4 holiday weekend

Julia Shapero

The air quality across the Midwest and Northeast is looking up for the July Fourth holiday weekend, after smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed the region earlier this week.

The smoke began to lift on Friday, with the air quality index falling into the unhealthy for sensitive groups and moderate ranges in much of the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. However, a swath of Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York remained in the unhealthy range.

New York City had the second-worst air quality of any major city in the world on Friday, while Washington, D.C., Detroit and Chicago were in the top 10, according to IQAir.

By Saturday, almost the entire region is expected to see moderate air quality, with Michigan and northern Ohio the only areas in the U.S. that are forecast to continue seeing air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups, according to the government’s official air quality index AirNow.

At moderate air quality, it is considered a “good day to be active outside” for most groups, while those who are unusually sensitive should “consider making outdoor activities shorter and less intense.”

Nearly 500 fires were burning in Canada on Friday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Smoke from the wildfires covered the eastern U.S. earlier this month, causing some areas to see air quality in the “hazardous” category.

Courtesy: thehill