Canada wildfires cause Chicago and Milwaukee air quality alerts

Air quality alerts have been issued for sections of Canada and the US Midwest due to wildfire smoke, with some areas on Tuesday recording some of the worst air quality levels ever recorded.

After covering the east coast earlier this month, smoke has continued to spread south across North America in waves.

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, this year’s wildfire season has been the worst on record in Canada.

On Tuesday, the area was covered in a smoke that could be seen and smelled burning.

On a scale of 500, cities like Chicago and Milwaukee, as well as portions of Michigan and Ontario, recorded air quality index values in the 200s.

Even while they are lower than the levels earlier this month, which exceeded 400 in New York and other regions of the North East, those figures are still regarded as “very unhealthy.”

Health officials advised limiting outside activities when the air quality is poor for vulnerable populations such as kids, the elderly, and persons with respiratory issues.

According to Chicago school officials, on Tuesday, summer programming would be held indoors.

Out of the approximately 3,000 fires that have been reported so far this season, Canadian fire authorities report that 500 are still burning. 7.7 million hectares (30,000 square miles), or about the same size as South Carolina, have already been burned down.

According to data from the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service of the European Union, the fires have released a record 160 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere.

Over the next few days, the smoke is anticipated to move to the south and east.