Here's How Many Cigarettes People In The Northeast Are Breathing In A Day From Wildfire Smoke
The wildfire smoke in the Northeast is truly, truly wild right now.
Live view of Midtown Manhattan via @EarthCam as dense wildfire smoke settles in over NYC once again. An absolutely surreal scene. pic.twitter.com/Myubr5ENtk
— New York Metro Weather (@nymetrowx) June 7, 2023
In some places, it literally looks like Mars.
9:45 AM at NWS Binghamton. Sun is no longer visible, everything's orange, the parking lot lights have come on, and we're stuck at 50°F. pic.twitter.com/Ibu2oE2af5
— NWS Binghamton (@NWSBinghamton) June 7, 2023
Things only appear to be getting worse in NYC...
Leading edge of the dense smoke now moving into #NYC The sun will become more obscured as we head into the afternoon. Air Quality will also get worse pic.twitter.com/lI4UW4mxT9
— Bill Karins 💧 (@BillKarins) June 7, 2023
...and people are starting to wonder how harmful this smoke is to their health.
Another smoke sunrise over New York pic.twitter.com/AJscvfBLKf
— Mireille Larnac-Wilson (@MireilleLarnac) June 7, 2023
One tweet in particular went viral, comparing smoking cigarettes to breathing in wildfire smoke.
New York City now has the worst air quality of any city on Earth. If exposed to the current air quality in NYC for 24 hours, it would be equivalent to smoking about 6 cigarettes. pic.twitter.com/EWeEnQH9ya
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) June 7, 2023
The tweet said spending one full day in NYC yesterday was equivalent to smoking six cigarettes.
I was wondering where this information came from, and there's actually a study from Stanford that was done in 2020.
So, in order to calculate a cigarette equivalent, you need to know what the AQI is.
What's AQI? It means Air Quality Index.
There are various levels of the index, from green (good) to maroon (hazardous).
The AQI in some places of Upstate New York is over 300.
**BREAKING the AQI has now really spiked well into the 300s at 351 at 9am and is now considered HAZARDOUS. This is insane. Please be careful and take it easy outside! pic.twitter.com/A2lDV2q78p
— NewsChannel 9 (@NewsChannel9) June 7, 2023
Over 300 is "hazardous," signifying "emergency" conditions.
Umm........300 AQI tomorrow morning here 😨😳 pic.twitter.com/smOo9d7Bo7
— cbeezwax (@cbeezwax) June 7, 2023
So, now you know what AQI is, let's go back to cigarettes.
Kari Nadeau is the director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University, and she says: "An AQI measurement of 20 is equivalent to smoking one cigarette a day."
She says: "Communities exposed to wildfire smoke causing AQI of 150 for several days is equivalent to about seven cigarettes a day if someone were outside the whole time."
She also says you're not immune if you're indoors. "Even if you’re indoors, you could be breathing in this poor air quality due to leakage."
So, let's go back to that picture from Binghamton.
9:45 AM at NWS Binghamton. Sun is no longer visible, everything's orange, the parking lot lights have come on, and we're stuck at 50°F. pic.twitter.com/Ibu2oE2af5
— NWS Binghamton (@NWSBinghamton) June 7, 2023
At last check, the AQI was 391 in Binghamton.
That means, according to this math, spending a full day in that specific climate condition is equivalent to smoking about 19 cigarettes.
