Wysocki says even those without pre-existing conditions will begin to feel the effects of the plumes of wildfire smoke on Thursday and may experience itchy watery eyes, a sore and scratchy throat and cough. Wearing a mask can help. Wysocki says kids 6 years-old and younger should also avoid the outdoor smoke-filled air as their “tiny lungs are still developing.”
As winds deliver Canadian wildfire smoke back to Central New York, the State’s Climatologist anticipates we can expect at least another full day with worsening air quality. Mark Wysocki is also a Senior Lecturer of Meteorology at Cornell University who specializes in air pollution. He says Thursday the Air Quality Index will be the worst and those with respiratory medical conditions will have sensitivities.
“I kind of anticipate that you’ll probably reach maybe the 160’s Thursday when you wake up and through the early morning hours. Tomorrow will be the worst of it with higher numbers but, not quite as bad that we had before.”
Wysocki says an AQI of 100 and above is a cause for some concern. He thinks on Thursday we could reach around 200 at times. Activities at summer camps will need to be on the lighter side.
“Activities there will have to be reduced at least for the rest of today and at least through Friday that we’re not having them run around and doing all this heavy breathing and so forth.”
Wysocki says even those without pre-existing conditions will begin to feel the effects of the plumes of wildfire smoke on Thursday and may experience itchy watery eyes, a sore and scratchy throat and cough. Wearing a mask can help. Wysocki says kids 6 years-old and younger should also avoid the outdoor smoke-filled air as their “tiny lungs are still developing.” He doesn't anticipate the plumes of smoke to significantly begin to clear out until around noon on Friday.