A Week of Smoky Skies Across North America

Wildland fires in Canada ramped up in July, and the smoke didn't stay put. From July fourteenth through the twentieth, plumes drifted southeast across North America, turning skies hazy and degrading air quality for millions. According to NASA News, major cities—Toronto, Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C.—saw unhealthy or hazardous air quality, driven by brown carbon, organic aerosols from the fires that can aggravate respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. NASA's Earth Observing System tracked the smoke's movement using satellite data and weather patterns, showing how storms eventually cleared the haze from the East, even as fires in the Pacific Northwest began affecting their region.

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