OK , I ’m staying inside .
The wildfire smoke in the Northeast is truly, trulywild right now.
Live view of Midtown Manhattan via@EarthCamas dense wildfire fume settles in over NYC once again . An utterly surrealistic scene.pic.twitter.com/Myubr5ENtk
In some places, it literally looks like Mars.
9:45 AM at NWS Binghamton . Sun is no longer seeable , everything ’s Orange River , the parking good deal lightness have come on , and we ’re stick at 50°F.pic.twitter.com/Ibu2oE2af5
Things only appear to be getting worse in NYC…
lead edge of the dense locoweed now moving into#NYCThe sun will become more obscured as we head into the afternoon . Air Quality will also get worsepic.twitter.com/lI4UW4mxT9
…and people are starting to wonder how harmful this smoke is to their health.
Another locoweed break of the day over New Yorkpic.twitter.com/AJscvfBLKf
One tweet in particular went viral, comparing smoking cigarettes to breathing in wildfire smoke.
New York City now has the worst air travel timbre of any city on Earth . If exposed to the current air quality in NYC for 24 hours , it would be equivalent to fume about 6 cigarettes.pic.twitter.com/EWeEnQH9ya
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 studyfrom Stanfordthat 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 fortify well into the 300s at 351 at 9 am and is now consider HAZARDOUS . This is insane . Please be careful and take it gentle outside!pic.twitter.com / A2lDV2q78p
Over 300 is “hazardous,” signifying “emergency” conditions.
Umm …….. 300 AQI tomorrow morning here 😨 😳 pic.twitter.com/smOo9d7Bo7
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.
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.
Still interested? You can find the Air Quality Index numberhere.
