Before-and-After Pictures Show How Smoke Has Engulfed New York

Before-and-after photos show how wildfire smoke drifting down from Canada has engulfed New York City.

Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season in history. Blazes are raging in nearly every province of the country, with Quebec worst affected so far.

The smoke has been carried to the East Coast of the U.S., blanketing cities such as New York in an eerie haze and reducing air quality.

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In photos taken on June 7, many of the city's landmarks can barely be made out through the smoke.

One shows a haze surrounding the Statue of Liberty from the Upper Bay district. Another pictures the Empire State Building blanketed in smoke.

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Images taken from the 72nd floor of the One World Trade Center building show how quickly the city was blanketed in smoke. One was taken at 8:28 a.m and the other at 1:31 p.m.

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A time-lapse clip posted on Twitter by the National Weather Service (NWS) offers another view of the New York skyline, with the World Trade Center clearly visible at the start and then swathed in orange smoke.

The NWS tweet added: "Those vulnerable to poor air quality, including seniors and young children, should limit time outdoors if possible."

Across the north-east, air quality is in the "Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, and Hazardous categories," the weather service said in a statement.

On June 8 the NWS said air quality "will remain poor today across the Tri-State Region."

The conditions can pose serious risks to human health, particularly for people with respiratory issues. In the short term, the wildfire smoke can cause irritation to the throat, nose, lungs and eyes. There are also longer-term risks.

"The surface smoke pollution from New York to the D.C. region is easily the most significant since at least July 2002, when a similar situation occurred with nearby fires in Quebec," said Ryan Stauffer, an atmospheric scientist based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

He told NASA Earth Observatory: "This event is rivaling, and in some cases will likely surpass, the observed 2002 smoke pollution."

Update 06/08/23, 11:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated to add more pictures.

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