New York City and surrounding regions fell under a dangerous, code red air quality alert Thursday as smoke from Canadian wildfires continued drifting east from Ontario, coating skies in yellow and orange haze.
Mayor Mamdani said Thursday was the “worst” day of smoke so far and cautioned New Yorkers to stay indoors as much as possible, or wear masks if they went out. The impact would not be relegated to particularly sensitive groups such as the elderly or people with preexisting conditions, but would hit everyone.
The dangerous air quality was present in all five boroughs. Hundreds of locations across the city were distributing free KN95 masks, he said, noting that Thursday was not a day to be an outdoor hero.
“In our city, we pride ourselves on being resilient,” Mamdani said at his morning press conference. “Today is not a day to say, ‘In spite of the air quality, I’m going to do everything I was going to do yesterday.’ This is very serious. We are reaching into a level of air quality that is dangerous for every single New Yorker. And so, yes, it is masks, but also it is to stay indoors, whereas otherwise you might have been outdoors. If you were thinking that today would be the day that you would finally take that run, let it be tomorrow.”
All of New York State was under similar advisories, including Long Island. Parts of New Jersey were also included. Temperatures reaching the low 90s in much of the region would exacerbate the effects, according to the National Weather Service.
