Toronto’s air quality is among the worst in the world amid wildfires

In a top 100 ranking of poor air quality and pollution in cities around the world, Toronto is ranked sixth place for unhealthy air Wednesday.

The IQ Air Quality Index delivers a daily life ranking of major cities, and at 7 p.m. ET on June 28, Toronto took one of the top spots on the list, with smoke from wildfires in parts of Northeastern Ontario and Quebec billowing over the city. hung .

For a brief period around 4 p.m. local time, Toronto ranked first as the worst city in the world for air quality, followed by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The thick smoke prompted Environment Canada to issue a warning for the Toronto area on June 28, saying plumes of smoke from fires over northeastern Ontario and Quebec “resulted in deteriorating air quality”. Those “very high levels of air pollution” are expected to continue through the rest of the day and improve in some areas by the end of the week.

The city of Toronto created changes to programming in response to air quality, warning that “certain individuals, including seniors, pregnant individuals, infants and young children, and those with chronic heart or lung disease, are at greater risk for health problems when exposed to air pollution.”

“Exposure to air pollutants can result in a variety of symptoms, such as irritated eyes, increased mucus production, coughing and difficulty breathing,” said the city, which advised people to limit their outdoor activities and close their windows and doors, taking into account exposure to overexposure. . heat.

Toronto suspended all outdoor activities at its early childhood learning and daycare centers and moved city-run outdoor museum programs indoors on June 28.

As the day progressed into the evening, Toronto trailed Chicago in first place, Dubai in second and Delhi, India in third. The US cities of Detroit and Minneapolis took fourth and fifth place, respectively, largely because of drifting smoke blown in from the out-of-control Canadian wildfires.

The federal weather agency said air quality and visibility due to wildfire smoke “can fluctuate over short distances and vary significantly from hour to hour.”

Canada has one Air quality health index (AQHI) as part of Environment Canada, which reports current air quality based on health hazards. On June 28, the Table of contents reported high risks related to air quality in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov site, on June 27, parts of Illinois, lower Michigan and southern Wisconsin had the worst air quality in the United States, while air quality in Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee was categorized as “very unhealthy.”

Fires in northern Quebec, combined with a low-pressure system over the eastern Great Lakes, are responsible for smoke traveling into northern Michigan and through Wisconsin and Chicago, according to meteorologists.

Between January 1 and June 26, data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center indicates that 76,129 square kilometers of Canadian land including forests across the country burned. As of June 28, there were 482 fires nationwide, 240 of which were out of control.

A quarter of the fires currently burning are in Quebec.

According to Europe Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Servicesmoke from Canadian wildfires drifts across the Atlantic Ocean into Western Europe.

“Record levels of emissions caused by the intense wildfire activity in Canada in May and June are having a major impact on air quality both in Canada and beyond,” the weather service said. said in an update on June 27.

“TThe significant wildfire activity seen in Canada in May has continued and intensified in June…with significant long-distance smoke travel crossing the Atlantic and reaching Europe,” Copernicus said.

Environment Canada indicated that smoke from wildfires in forests and grasslands can be a major source of air pollution for Canadians.

“The fine particles in the smoke can pose a serious health risk, especially for children, seniors and people with heart or lung conditions. Because smoke can be carried downwind for thousands of miles, distant locations can be affected almost as badly as areas close to the fire,” the department said.