Smoke From Canada's Wildfires Is Streaming Into The Northeast, Causing Unhealthy Air

U​nhealthy air caused by s​moke from wildfires in Canada's province of Quebec is streaming into parts of the Northeast, including the New York City metro area.

(​PHOTOS: Smoke Engulfs New York, New Jersey)

"Unhealthy" air for New York City: N​umerous locations from upstate New York and northeast Pennsylvania to New York City and southern New England reported air quality categorized as "unhealthy" (red dots below), by airnow.gov on Tuesday. Many other spots in the Northeast had air quality in the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" (orange dots below) category.

T​his smoke is particularly bad for you and can cause coughing, shortness of breath, increased heart rate and other immediate effects, even in healthy people. It can also aggravate chronic heart and lung conditions, increase the risk of stroke and heart attack, damage vital organs and shorten a person’s lifespan.

Y​ou can track the latest real-time air quality at this link.

Photos from New York City showed the smoke-covered skies tinting the skyline orange on Tuesday morning. Smoke continued to blanket the city throughout the day.

Y​ou can see how expansive the smoke appeared on satellite in the image below from Tuesday.

W​hy it's happening: A rash of wildfires in the Canadian province of Quebec was fanned by strong winds around low pressure near the New England coast on Monday. The counterclockwise flow around that low-pressure system pushed the surface-based smoke southward into the Northeast Monday night into Tuesday.

T​his pattern will remain largely unchanged for at least the next few days, so more smoke could impact the eastern U.S. as long as the fires in Canada continue to burn.

C​lick the play button below to see how the smoke was pushed southward toward the Northeast late Monday.

T​hese next two loops show how the smoke made its way across the Northeast by Tuesday morning.

Chris Dolce has been a senior meteorologist with weather.com for over 10 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.

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