This summer, wildfire smoke has impacted the Pacific Northwest, California, the Mountain West, and the Northeast. The western states experience direct, localized smoke from ongoing blazes whereas the midwestern and eastern cities suffer from unhealthy air because of wind patterns carrying smoke from Canadian wildfires. In July, 13 states issued air quality alerts because of more than 150 wildfires burning in Quebec.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires smothered large parts of North America in 2023, the first time many American residents encountered the situation. But the changing climate is threatening to make it a recurring problem.
There has been a dramatic increase in wildfires in North America. As CO2 levels in the atmosphere continue to increase, global temperatures will rise, droughts will worsen, and there will be larger, more frequent wildfires and smoke events.
Every county on the U.S. mainland now experiences degraded air quality because of wildfire smoke at least 16 times a year. In 2022, researchers found that the number of people in the United States experiencing an “extreme smoke day” increased by a factor of 27 over the previous decade. As extreme heat and aridity dries forests, blazes will move further east and smoke in eastern cities will become more routine.
Air pollution from wildfire smoke caused nearly 164,000 deaths between 2005 and 2020. If the current rate of global warming persists, estimates are that exposure to wildfire smoke will kill 70,000 people each year by 2050.
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References:
A Warmer World Will Be a Smokier One
