Unhealthy air from wildfire smoke persists in DC, Maryland
FOX Weather's Nicole Valdes is in Washington, D.C. where conditions are improving but the unhealthy air quality continues.
BALTIMORE - An eerie orange haze that has been blanketing much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic due to massive wildfire smoke blowing into the U.S. from Canada has finally given way to brighter skies.
Wednesday was marked with a surreal orange-tinged blanket of smoke around New York City. This plume moved south into Baltimore and Washington on Thursday, bringing hazardous air quality.
By Friday, the smoke has started to lift, along with some air quality alerts. Still, nearly 90 million people in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic are under air quality alerts.
People take photos of the sun as smoke from the wildfires in Canada cause hazy conditions in New York City on June 7, 2023.
(ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
ARLINGTON - JUNE 7: A commercial airplane takes off over the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Heavy smoke from Canadian wildfires were visible throughout the region Wednesday. (Photo by Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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ARLINGTON - JUNE 7: Visitors walk along the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Heavy smoke from Canadian wildfires were visible throughout the region Wednesday. (Photo by Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON, DC- JUNE 07: Hazy skies are seen over Arlington, VA as people are seen near the Potomac River on Wednesday June 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. Smoke from wildfires in Canada have darkened the skies and effected the air quality in some of the United States. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON - JUNE 7: Wearing protective face masks, U.S. Park Rangers stand at the base of the Washington Monument on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Heavy smoke from Canadian wildfires were visible throughout the region Wednesday. (Photo by Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON, DC- JUNE 07: Tourists visit the World War II Memorial under hazy skies caused by Canadian wildfires on June 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. Air quality levels remain in red for most of the East Coast due to smoke from wildfires that have been burning in Canada for weeks. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON, DC- JUNE 07: Tourists visit the Lincoln Memorial under hazy skies caused by Canadian wildfires on June 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. Air quality levels remain in red for most of the East Coast due to smoke from wildfires that have been burning in Canada for weeks. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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The Lincoln Memorial is seen as smoke from wildfires in Canada cause hazy conditions in Washington, DC, on June 7, 2023. A Code Red Air Quality Alert, for unhealthy and unsafe air, is in effect Wednesday for the Washington area. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
Scenes across New York City are seen on June 7, 2023, amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. People in the city other areas are expected to have another day of bad air Thursday due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality advisories continue to be in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people.
(Ezio Cairoli)
A view of smoky sky as air quality fell to dangerous levels due to Canada's wildfires, according to reports from the National Weather Service, in Washington DC, United States on June 07, 2023.
(Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency)
You can faintly see Washington, DC landmarks smogged by smoke in the distance on Wednesday, June 7, 2023.
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ARLINGTON - JUNE 7: The Lincoln Memorial, pictured from Arlington, Va., on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Heavy smoke from Canadian wildfires were visible throughout the region Wednesday.
(Tom Brenner for The Washington Post)
The Manhattan skyline is seen during sunrise amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires on June 08, 2023 in New York City.
(Michael M. Santiago)
A view of New Brunswick, New Jersey with the Raritan River on June 7, 2023. The skyline is covered in a thick blanket of smoke.
(Kyle David)
A general view of hazy conditions resulting from Canadian wildfires at Yankee Stadium before the game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees on June 7, 2023, in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images)
(New York Yankees)
A general view of hazy conditions resulting from Canadian wildfires at Yankee Stadium before the game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees on June 7, 2023, in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images)
(New York Yankees)
People walk in Central Park as smoke from wildfires in Canada cause hazy conditions in New York City on June 7, 2023.
(TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
The Statue of Liberty is surrounded by smoke in New York City. June 7, 2023.
(Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu Agency)
Smoky haze blankets neighborhood in the Bronx. New York City. June 7, 2023.
(David Dee Delgado)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 7: Traffic goes over the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge as smoke from Canadian wildfires casts a haze over the area on June 7, 2023 in New York City. Air pollution alerts were issued across the United States due to smoke from wildfires that have been burning in Canada for weeks.
(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Hazy skies with Radio City Music Hall in the foreground. New York City. June 7, 2023.
(Debbie Burkhoff)
Orange skies caused by wildfire smoke from Canada are seen over Times Square in New York City on June 7, 2023.
(Pam Ng)
The US Capitol, from right, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial shrouded in smoke from Canada wildfires in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The US Northeast faces another day of choking smoke from forest fires across eastern Canada with air quality alerts stretching from New York and New England to South Carolina. (Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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People stand in a park as the New York City skyline is covered with haze and smoke from Canada wildfires on June 7, 2023 in Weehawken, New Jersey. Air pollution alerts were issued across the United States due to smoke from wildfires that have been burning in Canada for weeks.
(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
JERSEY CITY, NJ - JUNE 7: Smoke continues to shroud the sun as it rises behind the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on June 7, 2023, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey.
(Gary Hershorn)
Thick smoke over Binghamton, New York, produces an orange glow at the local National Weather Service office on Wednesday, June 7, 2023.
(NWS Binghamton)
The sun is shrouded as it rises in a hazy, smoky sky due to the Canadian wildfires in New York City of United States on June 07, 2023.
(Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency)
A water taxi at the Inner Harbor as smoke from Canada wildfires blankets Baltimore, Maryland, US, on Thursday, June 8, 2023. The US Northeast will continue to breathe in choking smoke from fires across eastern Canada for the next few days, raising health alarms across impacted areas. Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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A cyclist rides under a blanket of haze partially obscuring the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on June 8, 2023.
(Mandel NGAN / AFP)
Conditions have improved in Maryland and the DC metro area, but "Unhealthy" air is persisting in some eastern parts of the state.
What is the current air quality level in Maryland?
Most of Maryland has been placed under "Moderate" Air Quality Index (AQI) levels Friday morning, with some areas east of Baltimore, being placed into "Unhealthy for sensitive groups" or Code Orange and "Unhealthy" or Code Red.
The air quality will continue to improve as wildfire smoke continues to push farther south and west.
WHAT TO DO WHEN WILDFIRE SMOKE SMOTHERS YOUR AREA, AND HOW TO KEEP YOUR HOME'S AIR CLEAN
What are the current air quality alerts in Maryland?
Nearly 90 million Americans across the eastern half of the country are under Air Quality Alerts on Friday.
Parts of Caroline County in Maryland are still under "Unhealthy for sensitive groups" and "unhealthy" alerts. Most alerts remain in effect for the eastern parts of Maryland, including Salisbury and Ocean City.
Other major metropolitan areas like Washington, Philadelphia, New York City and Norfolk, Virginia remain under Air Quality Alerts on Friday. The smoke has shifted southwest and "moderate" Air Quality Alerts are now in effect for Atlanta, Charlotte and Huntsville.
WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID REFUELING YOUR CAR OR GRILLING DURING UNHEALTHY AIR QUALITY
What are the current cities with the worst air quality in the U.S.?
Cities up and down the East Coast are among those with the worst air quality in the country.
At one point on Thursday, Washington was seeing "Hazardous" air quality levels but has since fallen back into just the moderate range Friday morning.
WHAT IS THE AIR QUALITY INDEX?
What does the Air Quality Index (AQI) mean?
The air quality index ranges from 0 to 500 and has six color-coded categories to correspond to a different level of health concern. (FOX Weather)
A regular assessment of air quality in the United States started in 1976, about six years after the Environmental Protection Agency was created.
According to AirNow.gov, the law requires any metropolitan area with a population of more than 350,000 to report air quality daily.
The Air Quality Index we know today was released in 1999, according to AirNow.gov. It has gone through several updates over the years, but the goal has always been the same — to offer people an easy-to-understand daily report about the air they’re breathing and indicate what air quality is dangerous.