Fort McMurray fires cause air pollution spike on other side of continent

[applegrove]

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4305787

Margot McDiarmid at CBC news

"SNIP......

The huge wildfire in Fort McMurray last year caused air pollution to spike as far away as the New England states, more than 4,000 kilometres away, experts say.

"It was such a wide swath," said Michael Geigert, air quality meteorologist with Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Geigert says he was surprised that normally clean air from Canada was carrying such high levels of ozone. It is a clear example, say scientists, of how air pollution from wildfires can be transported long distances.

Pollution levels spiked so much that seven U.S. states applied to the country's federal Environmental Protection Agency for a special exemption for pollution levels that exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. 

.....SNIP"