New York City air becomes some of the worst in the world as Canada wildfire smoke blows in
CBSN
Smoke from the wildfires raging across Canada has created a thick haze across New York City's iconic skyline, nearly fading out the Statue of Liberty and high-rises. The quality of air has become so bad in the past few days that now, the city has some of the worst air pollution in the world.
Early Wednesday morning, New York City was second only to Delhi, India for the worst air quality and pollution out of 100 tracked countries, according to Swiss air quality technology company IQAir. According to the company, the city currently has an Air Quality Index of 160, categorized as an "unhealthy" amount, meaning that some people may experience health effects. That ranking was soon bumped down to third after Detroit's AQI hit 162.
Particulate matter in New York's air was measured at 14.5 times the World Health Organization's annual air quality guideline value, IQAir said, but it's expected that it will improve to at least "moderate" through the weekend.
