The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is using several satellites to measure and monitor wildfires burning in Canada and the smoke blowing into parts of the United States.
NOAA’s geostationary satellites — GOES East and GOES West — are tracking both the fires and smoke in near real-time, the agency said. They can also identify hot spots, detect changes in the behavior of the fire and help determine how large and hot the fire is, NOAA said.
Others, including the Joint Polar Satellite System’s NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP satellites, are measuring data to determine how tall the smoke plume is and predict the direction it may move, it said on its website.
“Their high spatial resolution imager detects smaller and lower-temperature fires and also provides nighttime fire detection,” NOAA said.
The agency said the goal of using all of these satellites and equipment together is to create a comprehensive picture of the fires and the smoke in order to warn people who could be affected. In some cases it could be “life-saving information in a dynamic fire environment,” it said.
This week, @NOAA satellites are monitoring even more thick smoke from #wildfires burning in Canada that has been blowing over the eastern and central U.S., triggering air quality alerts in many areas.Learn more in our latest #EarthFromOrbit video: https://t.co/zjwQ82xPFN pic.twitter.com/8goFTTx7x3
By the numbers: There have been more than 2,200 wildfires in Canada so far this year, according to NOAA, putting it on track to have “the worst wildfire season on record.” The fires have burned an area larger than the state of Maryland, it said.
As of Thursday, wildfires are burning in every province and territory in Canada, except for Prince Edward Island and Nunavut, NOAA said. That includes 133 active wildfires across Quebec, according to the area’s fire prevention agency, Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU).
23 min ago
Schools along the East Coast are taking precautions as Canadian wildfire smoke lingers
From CNN's Liam Reilly and Danny Freeman
Evening commuters travel on Broad Street past a hazy City Hall in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Matt Slocum/AP
Schools in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are taking precautions amid the spread of Canadian wildfire smoke and impact on air quality:
- New Jersey: Newark and Elizabeth school districts closed Thursday due to poor air quality, they said in statements. Jersey City and Hoboken school districts are open but are canceling either after-school programs or outdoor activities and field trips. Montclair and Trenton school districts in New Jersey have truncated schedules due to air quality concerns.
- New York: In New York City, kids had planned a day off on Thursday and a school-based staff event scheduled for the day has gone remote due to air quality concerns. New York City Public Schools, the largest school district in the country, will also be implementing remote instruction Friday.
- Pennsylvania: The school district of Philadelphia, which supports more than 100,000 students, encouraged students to wear masks on their way to school Thursday morning, while the air quality was listed as “hazardous” or “Code Maroon” by Airnow.gov.
45 min ago
New York will send forest rangers to Canada to help fight wildfires, governor says
From CNN's Laura Ly
New York state is sending forest rangers to Canada to help fight the wildfires in Quebec, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.
"After I spoke to the consul-general yesterday to just touch base in Canada (on) how they’re doing, and he was meeting with the prime minister, we offered more assistance," she said. "We’d offered previously, but they’re now taking us up on it."
The first responders will leave New York for Quebec on Friday. The state will send at least seven people over the next two weeks, Hochul said.
The rangers, who are part of the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, will join firefighters from New Hampshire and Maine in Canada.
41 min ago
Wildfire smoke causes more flight delays than rain or fog. Here's why, according to the FAA
Travelers look at a departures monitor at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in Queens, New York, on Thursday, June 8. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Smoke from wildfires in Canada is a serious problem for airlines — creating conditions that cause more delays than rain or fog, the Federal Aviation Administration said. That’s because airlines rely on advanced navigation systems on the planes and on the ground, according to the FAA's Kevin Morris.
“These systems work well through water droplets but can be less effective through solid particles such as smoke and ash,” he said in a video posted by the agency on Twitter.
In times when visibility is impacted by smoke, pilots need to take more precautions — such as keeping more distance between planes arriving and departing airports, Morris said. It’s also possible that some types of aircraft won’t be able to land in areas of heavy smoke because of the navigation equipment they have, he added.
More than 1,700 flights to, from and within the United States are being held up Thursday, according to tracking service FlightAware.
Delays are expected into and out of New York City's LaGuardia Airport until late Thursday night. The FAA’s operations plan for Thursday shows smoke potentially impacting travel from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, throughout the day.
“The FAA will likely need to take steps to manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte due to reduced visibility from wildfire smoke,” according to a statement from the agency.
Watch the video:
1 hr 7 min ago
Amazon sees sales on masks and air purifiers spike as smoke clouds Northeast
From CNN's Nicole Goodkind and Nathaniel Meyersohn
People are rushing to buy air filters, humidifiers and high-quality masks on Amazon amid Canadian wildfires that have smothered large swaths of the United States in a thick plume of toxic smoke, leading to orange skies, a burnt taste in the air and advisories to stay inside.
Fine particles from the smoke can make their way indoors. Air purifiers can be helpful with filtering out the pollution.
As of Thursday morning, air filters were the top gainers in sales for tools and home improvement products on Amazon over the past 24 hours. A Levoit humidifier was the third biggest sales gainer. N95 and KN95 masks also spiked in Amazon sales rankings.
Searches on Google for air purifiers have increased 16 fold since Monday, according to Google trends. It’s still unclear when the smoke will dissipate over the United States overall, as prevailing winds push the haze around the country.
Companies see stock increases: Whirlpool, one of the largest home goods manufacturers in the world, has seen its stock surge 13.2% over the past five days and by 6.4% on Wednesday alone. The company says that its HEPA purifiers can remove up to 99.97% of bad particles from air.
Shares of Carrier Global, which makes residential and industrial air purifiers and HVAC units, have gained nearly 11% over the past five days.
Johnson Controls, which has a number of air filters on the market, has also seen its stock price soar. Shares are up by 8.5% over a five-day period.
The air purifier market is poised to grow as climate change increases air pollution and exacerbates breathing difficulties. A Market Insights report forecasts that the industry is expected to grow at an annual compound rate of 10.8% to $2.9 billion by 2025 and $4.8 billion by 2030.
40 min ago
Why wildfire smoke can be hazardous
From CNN's Holly Yan, Aya Elamroussi, Celina Tebor, Meg Tirrell, Tina Burnside and Emma Tucker
People wear masks amid hazy conditions due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires on June 8, in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Wildfire smoke is particularly dangerous because it contains tiny particulate matter, or PM2.5 – the tiniest of pollutants.
When inhaled, it can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream. It comes from sources like the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires, and has been linked to several health complications including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.
And the impacts could be deadly: In 2016, about 4.2 million premature deaths were associated with fine particulate matter, according to the World Health Organization.
“If you can see or smell smoke, know that you’re being exposed,” said William Barrett, the national senior director of clean air advocacy with the American Lung Association.
“And it’s important that you do everything you can to remain indoors during those high, high pollution episodes, and it’s really important to keep an eye on your health or any development of symptoms.”
CNN’s Dave Hennen, Monica Garrett, Derek Van Dam, Rachel Ramirez and Robert Shackelford contributed to this report.
1 hr 50 min ago
"If you don't have to be outside, then don't be outside," DC mayor tells residents
From CNN's Andrew Millman
Lincoln Memorial is seen reflected in the reflecting pool at the national mall with a thick layer of smoke covering, on Thursday, June 8, in Washington, DC. Jose Luis Magana/AP
Mayor Muriel Bowser told Washington, DC, residents in plain terms Thursday that they should not spend any more time than they have to outside in poor air quality.
"The basics of it is: If you don't have to be outside, then don't be outside. And if you do need to be outside, then to wear a mask and limit your exposure," Bowser said.
The mayor was addressing the public shortly after officials issued a Code Purple air quality warning for the city, the second-worst rating in the air quality index, up from Code Red. Code Purple is when air quality index levels fall between 201 and 300 and are considered to be very unhealthy, while Code Red is when they're between 151 and 200, which is unhealthy.
"We're spending a lot of time educating the public," Bowser said, adding that "when they told me it was Code Purple, I thought it was getting better, so we're not even used to this language to deal with this type of air quality."
"We have advisories out to the public. We're also going to modify some government operations, and we're asking people to take heed," Bowser said.
Officials expect local conditions to improve "significantly" by late Friday or early Saturday, said Dr. Chris Rodriguez, the director of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency for DC.
"We have not seen an uptick in hospitalizations due to air quality concerns," Rodriguez added.
