Barrelling southward to the DC region is the air quality that New York, Pennsylvania, and surrounding regions experienced. NYC and Jersey got an especially hard hit. We were already experiencing the smoke from the fires in western Canada a few weeks ago. It is now getting really intense. This is more visceral. I went outside and immediately smelled something familiar. It wasn't as intense, but It smelled like NYC the day of and the day after September 11.
Take a look:
At 7 am my town had an AQI of 234 (very unhealthy) by 7:30 am it was at 254. Local forecasts predict that the worst of it will be this afternoon here. I am wearing a mask outdoors today. The Dogs will be limited to their outdoor time today. Normally, we are free-range fur parents and let them come and go through the dog door, but not today.
To put this into perspective, the last time something similar happened on the
east coast was probably in 1966, a year before I was born.
The 1966 New York City smog was a major air-pollution episode and environmental disaster, coinciding with that year's Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Smog covered the city and its surrounding area from November 23 to 26, filling the city's air with damaging levels of several toxic pollutants. It was the third major smog in New York City, following events of similar scale in 1953 and 1963.
On November 23, a large mass of stagnant air over the East Coast trapped pollutants in the city's air. For three days, New York City was engulfed in dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, smoke, and haze. Pockets of air pollution pervaded the greater New York metropolitan area, including parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. By November 25, the smog became severe enough that regional leaders announced a "first-stage alert". During the alert, leaders of local and state governments asked residents and industry to take voluntary steps to minimize emissions. Health officials advised people with respiratory or heart conditions to remain indoors. The city shut off garbage incinerators, requiring massive hauling of garbage to landfills. A cold front dispersed the smog on November 26, and the alert ended.
There was no centralized AQI at the time as the EPA would not be established until 1970.
Some more perspective:
9 million acres burned and it's already surpassed the yearly average. Mask up outside if you are looking down the barrel of this terrible mess.
This is our new normal, I suspect. That's fucking depressing.

&
Raine