The skies over New York City turned a hazy orange and grey again this week.

Reminiscent of when the skies turned a deep orange in 2023 — and then again in 2024 — this reality is quickly becoming a normal summer occurrence.

More than 850 wildfires are actively burning across Canada, with more than 180 concentrated in Ontario. The blazes are sending thick plumes of smoke hundreds of miles south and blanketing the Midwest and Northeast in dangerous, hazy air.

On Wednesday, New York City ranked among the most polluted cities in the world. By Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul expanded a statewide Air Quality Health Advisory, warning that levels across New York City, Long Island, and Western New York could begin to cause adverse health effects on people. The most intense smoke is forecast to push as far south as Washington, D.C.

More than 100 million people across the region are now under air quality alerts. State officials are urging residents to stay inside, seal their windows, and dig out whatever N95 masks they still have from the last crisis.

For Black communities across the Midwest and Northeast, the scene is familiar. Black communities already shoulder a disproportionate burden of air pollution, asthma, and respiratory disease, which makes these smoke events land even harder. Some of the worst hit places so far include Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee.

A recent study found that Black adults and those living in higher-poverty census tracts faced the strongest mortality effects from cumulative wildfire smoke exposure. Wildfire smoke, researchers at Stanford University have noted, is “10 times as toxic” as typical air pollution.

Studies have also shown that oftentimes during high pollution days, the air inside a building can actually be worse than outside, especially in Black and low-income communities where homes are older.

The Trump administration, which has moved to gut Biden-era pollution limits and eliminated the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice entirely, has stripped away much of the infrastructure that existed to protect the communities most at risk. So the public health infrastructure to protect the most vulnerable — air filter distributions, community shelter-in-place plans, and food access during these events — remains thin.

Read the full article about wildfire smoke in the Northeast by Adam Mahoney at Capital B News.