New York City’s world-famous landmarks have spent most of this week shrouded in haze, as smoke from massive wildfires in Quebec and Ottawa, Canada covers much of the country. While wildfire season has made sights like this increasingly common in West Coast cities, the East Coast is relatively unused to dealing with the issue on such a large scale.
With air quality plummeting across the region, many are canceling their outdoor activities and looking to hunker down inside. In the meantime, social media has been awash with images of the haze enveloping the city. It’s turned the sun an unfamiliar shade of red and blotted out the city’s skyline.
Fans looking to catch a game at Yankee Stadium saw little beyond the field, with an ominous gray lingering around the sports stadium:
We’re getting closer to first pitch here at Yankee Stadium and the air quality is real bad. It’s ominous. Smells like smoke.
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— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) June 6, 2023
The newly built neighborhood of Hudson Yards, just to the west of Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, also saw its massive skyscrapers surrender to the haze:
Downtown was more of the same, with One World Trade Center barely visible through the smoke at sunrise:
Even the Statue of Liberty, sitting in New York Harbor since the late 1800s, was hard to see unless you were taking the Staten Island Ferry nearby:
New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued an Air Quality Health Advisory, encouraging all residents to avoid outdoor activities as much as possible on Wednesday, June 7. Residents with heart or breathing problems as well as children were especially warned to stay indoors and wear a high-quality mask if they had to venture outside.
The Canadian wildfires are expected to continue burning for the foreseeable future, although changing wind patterns could shift where the smoke is blowing.
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