Dangerous wildfire smoke continues to blanket parts of the U.S.

Unhealthy air quality across swaths of U. S. from wildfire smoke Orange skies and heavy smoke covered large parts of the U. S. on Thursday as Canada and Minnesota grapple with wildfires. Hazardous air quality is expected to continue. Environment Story Of The Day NPR hide caption toggle caption NPR Environment LISTEN & FOLLOW RSS link Environment Dangerous wildfire smoke continues to blanket parts of the U. Updated July 16, 20268:20 PM ET Originally published July 16, 20264:32 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By  Ava Berger Dangerous wildfire smoke blankets parts of the U. Listen · Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www. npr. org/player/embed/nx-s1-5894857/nx-s1-9851584" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Haze from Canadian wildfires blankets the Manhattan skyline as seen from the Top of the Rock Observation Deck on July 16, 2026 in New York City. Spencer Platt/ North America hide caption toggle caption Spencer Platt/ North America Heavy smoke continues to spread across the Great Lakes region into New England and as far south as Maryland, leading to unhealthy and even hazardous air quality in a number of states. The combination of extreme heat and dry conditions in Ontario and northern Minnesota led to significant spread of wildfires on July 13. More than 800 wildfires are actively burning in Canada, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Record breaking temperatures created a heat dome across western Ontario and Minnesota with some places reaching over 100 degrees. This allowed fires to continue on an "unprecedented run," said Derek Mallia, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah. In Ontario, dramatic videos on social media show intense fire and smoke-filled skies. The air quality in certain areas was labeled "very high risk" . Thousands of people in the region have been forced to evacuate. Air quality ranging from hazardous to unhealthy is also affecting parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, choking major northeastern cities like Philadelphia, New York City and Baltimore, according to AirNow. Loading... "You have a firehose of smoke coming right now," Mallia said. Those areas are expected to experience smoke-filled skies at least through the weekend. And longer and more severe droughts and prolonged heat waves are resulting in drier vegetation. Climate Air pollution still plagues nearly half of Americans. That does a number on our health "The frequency and intensity of these wildfire smoke events are increasing," said Dan Westervelt, an associate research professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.