FLASH
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Nearly a third of Americans experienced poor air quality Thursday as smoke from lingering Canadian wildfires filled the skies over the Midwest and East, causing unhealthy and, in some cases, dangerous conditions.
Air quality alerts were in effect until midnight for a swath of the United States stretching from Wisconsin and northern Illinois to Michigan and up to New York and the East Coast, the National Weather Service said.
More than 100 million Americans were asked to limit prolonged outdoor activities and, if necessary, wear a mask if suffering from pulmonary or respiratory disease. Children and the elderly were also advised to minimize or avoid strenuous activities.
People living in major US cities such as New York, Chicago and Philadelphia may see cloudy skies and smell smoke throughout the day.
"Take precautions on Thursday. If you have health problems, including respiratory conditions like asthma, reduce your time outside," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Twitter.
On Thursday morning, a gloomy sky covered Chicago for the third day in a row. Air quality was "unhealthy" in the third-largest city in the United States, which had the most polluted air of any major city on the planet, according to IQAir.com, which tracks pollution.
"The air quality in Chicago has been terrible, giving me brutal migraines. I feel better today with my trusty air purifier on full blast. Having a cold day," said a Twitter user named Skaar.
The air quality alerts were triggered by smoke from wildfires burning across Canada, which is battling its worst-ever start to the wildfire season.
An area of 8 million hectares, larger than West Virginia, has already burned. As of Wednesday, there were 477 active fires, about half of which were considered out of control, spreading from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast.
While poor air quality was the concern in the Midwest and East, the southern US was once again dealing with a brutal heat wave that promised to continue throughout the day Thursday and into the long July 4th holiday weekend.
The heat index - which measures how hot it feels due to the combination of humidity and temperature - was expected to climb to 38 C and in some areas as high as 46 C. The weather service urged people to seek air-conditioned spaces and they drink a lot of water. /VOA
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