Air Quality Now

Air Quality Now

You may be curious about the current air quality - maybe you’ve heard about it on the news, or maybe your parents have told you about it. But you may still be curious about where it’s coming from - the why, how, etc. That’s what I’ll tell you about.

WMUR reports that there are around 200 wildfires currently burning in Canada. The wind and some other factors move the resulting smoke from Canada south to the US - the Midwest, New England, and even out to the Pacific coast and California. It causes increased pollutants in the air and increased ozone levels.

The symptoms of being affected by these fires are essentially what it feels like to have allergies - itchy eyes, sneezing, coughing, etc. It has the same effects as pollen does, according to Dr. Marc Grossman.

Experts say that if you plan to hike (which is not recommended until the smoke recedes), stay below 3,000 feet - once you start getting to higher elevations, the air quality continues to decrease to unsafe levels.

You may have seen the extremely vibrant sunsets we’ve gotten the past few days, or the weird, white-ish appearance to the sky at some points - these are all effects from the wildfires.

Experts also say to limit your time outside. Thankfully, this will not last long. Later today, June 5th, 2025, air quality is expected to improve, and by tomorrow, Friday June 5th, 2025, conditions should be back to normal. 

This is quite weird considering that the Washington Post reports that 104 of the 203 fires have been classified as “out of control” - certainly, these fires are not under control.

Hopefully, this is not a recurring occurrence this year, but with climate change, who knows!