Smoke from Canadian wildfires reaches wide areas of the United States

A thick cloud of smoke blanketed the sky over Manhattan, while beachgoers in Chicago were barred from entering the shore, due to raging wildfires in remote areas of Canada’s Ontario province, which have caused air quality to deteriorate for millions of residents.

Authorities canceled a soccer match scheduled for Thursday evening in Chicago due to poor air quality, just days before the 2026 World Cup final, set for 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.

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 wildfires in Canada.

That threshold was exceeded on Thursday in Detroit, Chicago, and Toledo, Ohio, where levels neared 700 in the afternoon, according to a monitoring tool operated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.