'Send help rather than complain,' Canada's Ford tells US as wildfire smoke blankets parts of North America
Washington DC is experiencing hazardous air quality levels due to smoke drifting from wildfires in Ontario, Canada. Meteorologists expect the conditions to improve by the weekend as a cold front moves into the region.
Why it matters
Wildfire smoke is becoming a recurring public health concern in North America, highlighting the cross-border impact of climate-driven environmental disasters.
Rebecka Pieder Reporting from Washington DC
This is "probably one of the worst smoke pollution episodes on record for the area," Washington DC meteorologist Jason Samenow tells the BBC.
"We're under a Code Purple air quality alert," says Samenow, "which is, you know, signifying very unhealthy air."
Meteorologists seemingly follow the rainbow in rating air quality. Just one step beyond purple ("very unhealthy") is the highest level, maroon, signifying "hazardous". On the other end, green is good.
"The more pollutants in the air, the worse the air quality," Samenow, whose weather reports are followed closely by many throughout the region, says. "It's just based on the concentration of pollution" in the atmosphere.
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