Chicago’s air quality among worst in the world due to Canadian wildfire smoke

Liam Heneghan’s view from Lee Street Beach in Evanston is usually the outline of the Chicago skyline.

But on Thursday, Heneghan, with his 2-year-old granddaughter Iphie in tow, could only see a couple of buildings because of wildfire smoke from Canada that drifted south. Neither noticed the change in air quality.

“It feels like a very fresh day,” Heneghan said, “that’s very often what’s deceptive about this sort of pollution.”

Actually, Chicago’s air quality was among the worst in the world after the Canadian wildfire smoke drifted south to create unsafe conditions for seniors, young children and people with respiratory illnesses.

The poor air quality prompted a government alert for the Chicago area Thursday.

“Today is a day to be very cautious about going outside,” said Dr. Brady Scott, a respiratory therapist and professor of cardiopulmonary sciences at Rush University Medical Center.

People with conditions, such as asthma, have to be particularly careful, said Scott, who added that even healthy individuals should be careful to not overdo it with strenuous activities given the air quality.

Symptoms for sensitive individuals to look out for include wheezing, coughing, a fast heartbeat, fatigue, chest pain, and shortness of breath. If symptoms worsen, call 911 or a physician.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency issued an air pollution “action day” for the Chicago area that is in effect until midnight due to elevated to elevated particle pollution. Check AirNow.gov for updates.

The Weather Company, which provides weather forecasting and owns the Weather Channel, ranked Chicago as having the ninth-worst air quality in the world for cities with a population of over 4 million. IQ Air, a Swiss technology company that sells air purifiers, ranked Chicago among the top three most polluted cities worldwide.

The smoke contains microscopic contaminants known as particle pollution that can be embedded deep in human lungs and can be hazardous to anyone over a long period of time.

“There is no level at which fine particles cease to cause health problems,” said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health programs at Respiratory Health Association in Chicago.

Urbaszewski recommends a series of precautionary measures for those who are most vulnerable to the bad air. They include staying indoors with windows closed, using air filters and following advice from a doctor on medication and physical activity.

Chicagoans are also encouraged to limit driving, conserve energy, use environmentally-friendly household and cleaning products and avoid gasoline-powered equipment.

“It’s probably a good idea to limit time outside,” Kevin Doom, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said. “Doing a lot of heavy breathing is probably not ideal on a day like today.”

Northern winds have blown smoke from wildfires in central Canada down to Chicago over the last several days, causing the poor air quality, though conditions are expected to improve over the next few days, according to the weather service.

“The smoke should be starting to thin out a little bit now that the winds kind of changed direction,” Doom said.

Big Canadian fires this early in the year are a relatively new phenomenon. Two years ago, another large Canadian wildfire polluted Chicago’s air, creating unhealthy conditions for three straight days.

The Canadian government determined that hot and dry conditions caused by climate change contributed to the intense fires that burned for months.

Experts have predicted that the fires may be the new normal and health officials agree.

“We could see more events like this in the near future,” said Dr. Alexander Sloboda, an official with the Chicago Department of Public Health. “So we definitely need to do more to educate and prepare people.”

The health department will be reviewing data from Chicago hospital emergency rooms to determine if the air contributed to an uptick in visits, he said.

Tom Skilling explains

Recently retired WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling said there are several factors in Canada’s and Chicago’s weather patterns that resulted in the poor air quality.

“The clarity in which these wildfire events are occurring over the [United States] and southern Canada is a byproduct of our warming climate and changing precipitation patterns,” Skilling said. “The moisture situation in Canada this year is one of below normal precipitation. So you set the stage for these fires when it’s dry and on top of that you put abnormally mild or warm temperatures over the area then you get into deep trouble.”

Skilling noted that lower air quality readings are coming from counties adjacent to Lake Michigan because of a temperature inversion that’s created when northeasterly winds bring cooler air that sits over the lake.

Wind blows the smoke south toward Lake Huron before pulling it back northeast toward Lake Michigan, according to Skilling.

“Normally when you go up in the atmosphere, the temperature drops with height,” Skilling said. “When air is heated, it wants to rise and [when there’s a temperature inversion] you shut down the ability of that air to rise and ascend and cut down the vertical mixing of air that thins out air pollutants,” Skilling said.

“So we have lower air quality in Chicago than out in the far west suburbs where this cool lake dome of air doesn’t reach and therefore there can be at least some mixing of the pollutants.”

Skilling said conditions shouldn’t be as severe in the coming days, but that it’ll be a while before the air quality completely returns to normal.

“These fires are not going away up there anytime soon,” Skilling said. “We’ve got some time left where we’re gonna have some pollution, some air quality issues here.”

“We all breathe air, and so modifying our exposure to the bad air is a good way to proceed,” Skilling said. “We can’t be totally divorced from our environment.”

Heneghan worries about his granddaughter’s future.

“These sorts of conditions are kind of troubling manifestations of a world on fire,” he said. “I mean, I think that that’s not going to go away. She’s entering into a world where the past is not going to be a reliable guide to the future.”

Contributing: Clare Lane