Smoke from Canadian forest fires covers vast areas of the United States

A thick cloud of smoke blanketed the skies of Manhattan, barred beachgoers from entering Chicago’s shores, and obscured prominent landmarks in Washington, D.C., due to raging wildfires in remote areas of Ontario, Canada. The fires have caused air quality to deteriorate for millions of residents, prompting U.S. authorities to monitor unsafe conditions as air quality warnings were issued across vast stretches of the United States.

After images emerged showing Toronto shrouded in dense yellow haze, the impacts of the wildfires spread to the U.S. states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois, which border Canada. According to data collected by IQAir, Detroit and Chicago topped the list of the world’s most polluted cities on Thursday evening, with New York trailing closely behind.

Authorities canceled a soccer match scheduled for Thursday night in Chicago due to poor air quality, just days before the 2026 World Cup final, expected on Sunday in New Jersey. Officials warned that air quality in the New York area would reach levels “hazardous to health” due to fine particles from the fires, urging residents to spend as much time as possible indoors. A layer of smoke haze enveloped the Statue of Liberty amid rising temperatures.

Smoke from the wildfires also obscured the Washington, D.C. skyline, reducing visibility and creating a colored fog over the Lincoln Memorial and the U.S. Capitol building. In 2023, the city’s sky turned orange, leaving a profound impact on residents, with the Air Quality Index reaching a hazardous level of 465 following Canadian wildfires. That threshold was surpassed on Thursday in Detroit, Chicago, and Toledo, Ohio, with readings nearing 700 in the afternoon, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s monitoring tool.