The notorious wildfires that are now burning on the U.S. West Coast sent smoke flying across the country. Even New York is impacted by the smoke.
To date, the Bootleg Fire is the largest wildfire in the United States. Having been burning in Oregon for around a week already, the Bootleg Fire has destroyed more than 600 square miles of land. It has also become so large it can literally generate its own weather.
For days, authorities have received a litany of bad weather reports as Eastern states continue to be trapped in a smoky haze.
An emergency response meterologist with the National Weather Service Julie Malingowski said generally, smoke pushed high into the atmosphere is now pushed downward again due to an area of high pressure. "We're seeing quite a bit of smoke near the surface level across parts of the Eastern U.S. Normally, as smoke moves further away from the active fire, the smoke tends to disperse into higher parts of the atmosphere so it's not as thick at the surface." Said Malingowski.
To make matters worse, microscopic particles called PM2.5 have been injected in smoke high into the atmosphere and traveled alongside the wind to cities thousands of miles away.
In light of the poor air quality across the United States, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Colorado State University, Sheryl Magzamen, warned of potential health risks and worsening respiratory conditions. She added the particles can be dangerous when poor air quality warnings are not a result of the conflagrations.
"When that smoke is associated with a local fire, our research has actually shown that there are less hospitalizations and ER visits on average because people are protecting themselves from the smoke and fire. However, if you're far away from them ... there's not that same type of warning system because you're not in any danger because of the fire. As long as active fires are burning and high pressure remains across the central part of the United States, many locations will at least see some reduction of visibility in their environment east of the Rockies." Said Magzamen.
Having witnessed the worsening air quality and wildfires becoming increasingly prevalent, environmentalists are now calling on people around the world to take bold steps to tackle climate change, as the recent wildfires that are burning in the U.S. are tied to that. But try as they may, a lot of people still consider climate change a hoax or no big deal. Much to environmentalists' chagrin, people have yet to do their part to avert climate crises. There is word only when people start to experience the effects of climate change will climate problems hit home.
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