(Washington, USA) According to the weather reports, the day is sunny and clear, but no one can attest to that. The sky is actually gray, as if there was a heavy fog, London style. But the smell confirms to the ignorant that the day before they did not discover the fires In Canada that what hangs over Washington is not fog, it is smoke.

It’s the second day like this in major cities on the east coast of UNITED STATES as a consequence of the Forest fires north of the continent. But this Thursday, in Washington DC, the air quality is much worse.

In the most central area of Washington what remains is the usual: tourists. The only difference with every day is that many of them wear masks. Around noon, despite Pennsylvania Street being closed due to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s visit, they still tried to take a photo with the White House behind.

On the side, a group of Spanish tourists tried to take a picture, but none worked well. It wasn’t the smoke: “You’re pressing the wrong button,” the man told his friend.

Unlike tourists, many people who live on the outskirts of Washington and commute to work in the city decided on Thursday to stay at home to telecommute. This was noticeable in traffic and also in the metro, which at rush hour was emptier than usual.

Many families starting summer vacation this weekend, as it’s the last week of school, are updating travel plans as they wait for the smoke to clear.

This weekend, the LGTBQ+ Pride Parade is scheduled for Washington and it’s still unclear if it can take place. Between Wednesday and Thursday, many sporting events were suspended, some public performances in Washington and New York and others that were not suspended were affected. The actress Jodie Comercharacter from the Killing Eve series, had to come off stage in a Broadway play because 10 minutes after starting, he had trouble breathing.

There were also some issues with flights due to reduced visibility. As announced by the United States Federal Aviation Administration, “wildfire smoke will continue to affect air travel” and “steps may need to be taken to safely manage the flow of traffic to New York, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte”.

On Thursday afternoon, the airports with the longest delays due to visibility issues on their flights were La Guardia (average of 54 minutes) and Newark (average of 34 minutes), both in the New York area.

The stay-at-home decision was a recommendation from authorities for those who can, given that parts of the capital’s metropolitan area had a purple alert.

There is three levels air quality alert: the code Orange it is when the index is between 101 and 150. In these cases, the air quality is unhealthy for sensitive groups and adults over 65, children and pregnant women are recommended to avoid exercising outdoors. During Code Orange, people with heart conditions or asthma should seek medical attention immediately if they feel unwell. The code red It is when the index is between 151 and 200 and there that the air quality is unhealthy for everyone. They recommend in these cases that no one do strenuous exercise and that at-risk populations stay indoors as much time as possible and wear face masks. The code violet is the most risky. There, the index is between 201 and 300. For these cases, the recommendation is that all groups stay indoors as much as possible and those who have to work outdoors use N95 or KN95 masks.

Experts expect the smoke to start clearing on Friday.

More than 400 fires in recent days in Canada have caused this air quality crisis in North America.

That Canada is on fire and that so far this year more hectares of forest have burned than the whole of Belgium has an explanation in time. During the month of May, the country suffered from what experts call a heat “climate anomaly”.

Scott Duncan, a Scottish meteorologist, explained that the fires follow days of extreme heat and dry land conditions and released a telling map of how the temperature has affected the North American continent.

“This is the second hottest May on record for global average temperature,” Duncan explained. During the month of May, according to the meteorologist, “South America and much of the southern half of Africa were warm”.

The smoke blanketing New York and Washington has got politicians thinking about climate change.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres posted a picture of himself in his office looking out the smoke-covered window and said he could smell the deteriorating air quality from there. “With rising global temperatures, there is an urgent need to reduce the risk of wildfires. We must make peace with nature. We cannot give up,” he posted.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden spoke by phone. In addition to the American announcement to send more support to fight the fires (there are already some 600 firefighters working), the two reflected on global warming.

“They recognized the need to work together to address the devastating effects of climate change,” Trudeu’s office said in a statement about the meeting between the two presidents.

“President Biden spoke today with Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada to offer him unconditional support in responding to the historic and devastating fires burning across Canada,” the White House statement read.

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