Smoke from Canadian wildfires infiltrated major U.S. cities once again, worsening air quality for millions of Americans.
Which Cities Are Most Impacted? Detroit, Chicago and Washington, D.C., were three of the 15 cities with the worst air quality cities in the world on Monday, according to IQAir's rankings.
The National Weather Service issued a warning for those living in the affected parts of Michigan and described the air quality as "moderate."
This was slightly better than the air quality in Detroit a few weeks ago in late June, when Detroit and Chicago were ranked as the two cities with the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir. At that time, the air quality in the Midwestern cities fell into the "hazardous" category.
How Bad Is It? For reference, the air quality in Chicago and Detroit was worse than in cities such as Beijing, China or Baghdad, Iraq, two of the most polluted cities in the world. Los Angeles and New York City also both had better air quality on Monday than Chicago and Detroit.
When Will It Get Better? Canadian officials have said that 2023 is one of, if not the worst, year ever in terms of wildfires, according to The Washington Post.
Fires continued to blaze in British Columbia and Alberta, with natural wind currents sending smoke down south to the northern U.S., around Minnesota, then more south and east to major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
The experts in Canada expected smoke to remain a concern throughout the rest of the summer, for as long as the fires are burning.
Weeks ago, the Canadian fires were predominantly in the eastern part of the country, near Quebec and Ontario, and now Canada's west side was seeing an uptick of forest fires near British Columbia.