Why was the air quality so bad? This summer Canada experienced very large, very dangerous wildfires. These fires were so bad that the smoke drifted through the Midwest.
Wildfire smoke contains pollutants. These pollutants cause health risks. Otherwise healthy people might experience itchy eyes or sore throats. Long-term exposure to unhealthy air can lead to asthma and respiratory diseases [conditions that affect people’s ability to breathe]. For people already suffering from respiratory diseases, hazardous air quality could be deadly.
Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using GOES 16 imagery courtesy of NOAA and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS).
