Jeff Masters is co-founder of Weather Underground, a former Hurricane Hunter, and was my colleague for years at Yale Climate Connections, where he writes on Weather and Climate issues.
Jeff Masters at Yale Climate Connections:
The award for worst air in the nation yesterday went to the city that has in the past billed itself as a climate haven: Duluth, Minnesota. The city’s 24-hour air quality index, or AQI, for PM2.5 particle pollution hit 934, over three times the threshold for “Hazardous” pollution. This shattered Duluth’s previous all-time AQI record of 159 set July 20, 2021. EPA pollution records go back to 1999.
Meteorologist Chris Vickers, WTOL Toledo:
HEALTH EMERGENCY! The AQI in Duluth, MN has surged to a mind blowing 1167 late Thursday evening! Hazardous air quality of this magnitude, almost four times the limit that is hazardous, is unprecedented.
At these levels, acute health hazards are possible for all, especially for those exposed to contaminated air for longer duration.
For Northwest Ohio, *IMPROVEMENTS* in air quality are expected by Friday evening.
Zeke Hausfather at Climate Brink does a nice analysis of Canadian wildfires and lays out likelihood of cause and effect of different things, while helpfully eliminating the “bad forest management” argument that is a contributor in parts of the United States.
“Canada’s boreal wildfires aren’t just bad forest management
Higher fire season temperatures are strongly correlated with increased area burned”
https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/canadas-boreal-wildfires-arent-just