Air quality in parts of the Chicago area including the north suburbs were either “very unhealthy” or “hazardous,” the air quality tracking website AirNow.gov showed, with “everyone” advised to stay inside as a thick plume of wildfire smoke covers northeastern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin.
The air quality alert, issued for nearly all of the Chicago area, including parts of northwest Indiana and Kenosha County in Wisconsin, will last until at last Thursday night.
“Not only due to wildfire smoke but also unhealthy ozone levels, the pollutants in the air,” NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Alicia Roman said. “That’s something we’ve seen since Tuesday evening.”
According to AirNow.gov, the worst air quality Thursday was in northern Cook and Lake Counties in Illinois, and Kenosha County in Wisconsin. In those parts, air quality reached the highest category on the AQI scale, marked “hazardous.”
“I’ve been here for 15 years and I’ve never seen parts of our viewing area in that hazardous category,” Roman said. “My maps don’t even have the hazardous explanation on it, because we’ve only gotten into that ‘very unhealthy,’ purple category.”
For air quality to reach into the “hazardous” category, air quality index values on a scale of 1-500 have to be at 301 or higher. As of 9:45 a.m., air quality in Lake Forest, Illinois was at 428.
“When the forecast is Maroon (hazardous), everyone should stay indoors and reduce activity levels,” the site said.
Further north, in Waukegan and over the border into Wisconsin, air quality was even worse, with levels over 600.
“When the number gets above 300, everyone is impacted no matter what,” Roman said. “Very, very poor air quality, especially across our far northern counties.”
In Evanston, Glencoe and Highland Park, public beaches and pools were closed for swimming Thursday morning because of the conditions, and summer camps were moved indoors.
“Outdoor activities, including swimming, sunbathing, and recreational sports, are not recommended until air quality improves,” the city of Evanston said.
Dr. Juanita Mora, allergist and immunologist with the American Lung Association said the smoke and pollutants are most dangerous to kids 5-years-old and younger.
“The most vulnerable population to these pollutants are going to be little kids less than five years of age because they’re they have immature airways. Lungs are still developing,” Mora said.” Then also the older adults that have very little reserve when it comes to volume with the heat and also with these pollutants when it comes to lung function.”
In Chicago, brownish-red smoky skies hovered over the city, with Chicago’s famous skyline appearing to disappear into the haze.
The plume of heavy, thick smoke, from more than 100 wildfires burning in northern and western Ontario, was expected to remain in Illinois all day Thursday and into early Friday morning.
Conditions were expected to improve by Friday evening, Roman said.
You can check the air quality near you here.
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