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Smoke from Canadian wildfires spreads to a third of the US

Forecasters reported that smoke from wildfires burning across three Canadian provinces covered a third or more of the U.S. Wednesday. However, the air quality was not affected except for New England, parts of New York State and the Midwest.

According to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center, College Park, Maryland, the haze that brought dangerous levels of particulate pollutants to Minnesota the day before, stretched from Dakotas to Ohio Valley to the Northeast, and even as far as Georgia. The haze was particularly thick in New York, New England and the Midwest.

Marc Chenard, National Weather Service, said that in many areas the air quality is not affected by the smoke. "But air quality problems are present as far south as New York, Connecticut and other areas where the smoke is thicker in the lower atmospheric layer."

Since the beginning of May, scores of wildfires are burning across Canada. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were more than 212 fires burning across Canada, of which half were out-of-control, according to Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 212 active fires were burning in the country. According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, so far 2 million hectares (5.9 million acres) has burned. The majority of fires occurred in west-central Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Yang Liu is a professor at Emory University, Atlanta. She teaches environmental health. Liu stated that "it will affect everyone, at some level. All walks of life." "It's bad."

He said that the smoke contains small, toxic particles smaller than 1/40th the width of an average human hair. These particles can enter the lungs or even dissolve in the bloodstream.

Williamstown, Massachusetts was one of the worst places for air pollution in the U.S. Northeast Wednesday morning. It is located near the borders of Vermont and New York. According to IQAir's website, which monitors air pollution around the globe, it registered a reading of 228. This is considered "very unhealthy".

According to the website, an air quality rating below 50 is "good," readings between 100-300 are "unhealthy" or "very unhealthy," and anything higher is "hazardous."

Other parts of the U.S. Northeast had much lower ratings, with New York City registering a 56 on Wednesday and Washington registering a 55.

On Wednesday morning, air quality in certain parts of the Midwest also improved. Ely, near Minnesota’s border with Manitoba registered a “moderate” reading of 65 on Wednesday, down from a previous reading of 336. Minneapolis, the third-worst air quality city in the country on Tuesday with a reading of 168, now registers at 96.

(source: Reuters)