STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The National Weather Service has issued an air quality health advisory for New York City.
The alert will remain in effect from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesday and warns residents of the declining air quality conditions.
As noted in the alert, Air Quality Index values are forecast to exceed 100 for the pollutant ground-level ozone. The higher the Air Quality Index value, the greater the health concerns.
When these pollutant levels are heightened, the New York State Department of Health recommends limiting outdoor physical activity. Those especially sensitive to pollutants in the air include those with respiratory issues such as asthma or heart disease and the very young, as noted in the advisory.
In drawing attention to the advisory, Notify NYC, the city’s official emergency notification system, put out a post on X warning that Air Quality Index values could measure anywhere between 101 and 150 on Wednesday. Anything below 50 is deemed “good.”
The latest alert comes just hours after Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather, told the Advance/SILive.com of the upcoming arrival of a thick batch of smoke from Canadian wildfires out west.
The largest of these wildfires is the Shoe Fire in central Saskatchewan, according to AccuWeather. That fire remained “out of control,” and as of Monday morning, has burned 1,490 square miles.
On Tuesday morning, Kines foresaw the smoke breezing through New York overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, with the worst conditions clearing out before Wednesday afternoon.
Those New York residents looking to remain up to date on the latest air quality conditions can reach the toll-free air quality hotline at 800-535-1345.
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