Map: East Coast air now worse than Bay Area’s during 2020 wildfires

Hey New York City, we get it. Yo, Trenton and Philly, we’ve been there. Your smoke-choked skylines fueled by more than 100 wildfires raging in Canada are so familiar to us here in the Bay Area.

We know what it’s like to wake up to ash on the windshield and a hazy, suffocatingly smoky, orange sky that could pass for a Martian sunrise. During the summer of 2020, surrounded by massive blazes, the Bay Area suffered through some of the worst air quality on the planet. But the hazardous air quality readings rolling in from the East Coast this week are even more dangerous.

Lucky for Bay Area residents, a ridge of high pressure arching down the United States from North Dakota to Texas will likely block the smoke before it gets to us. “It’s not looking like it’s going to impact California in any way,” said Sarah McCorkle, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey. But reading all the wildfire smoke headlines coming out of the East, many Bay Area residents are experiencing flashbacks to the summer of 2020.

“Remember when the Bay Area was Blade Runner 2049 in 2020?” tweeted one San Franciscan. “You’ll be ok, NY. ” But it may be awhile — and it’s spreading throughout the Eastern Seaboard.

On Wednesday, the smoke was so bad, New York City schools shut down outdoor activities, Major League Baseball canceled the Yankees’ game in New York, and the Phillies’ game in Philadelphia and the WNBA called off an indoor women’s basketball game in Brooklyn. Sound familiar, Bay Area? Back in 2018, during the deadly Camp Fire, Cal and Berkeley postponed the Big Game. And in 2020, the bad air shut down everything from horse racing at Golden Fields to Alcatraz tours.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) measures for particulate matter that is polluting the air on a scale of 0 to 500. The higher the AQI, the worse the air. According to experts, it’s unhealthy to go outside at anything above an AQI of 151.

As of Wednesday afternoon, (as the map below shows) the AQI in Queens, New York, reached a shocking 407, which was categorized as “hazardous. ” Bridgeport, Connecticut, also hit “hazardous” air quality, at 313. Philadelphia fared relatively better, at a still astoundingly high AQI of 226.

During the 2020 wildfire season, the Bay Area AQI measure reached a regional peak of 218 in Oakland on Sept. 11. At the time, that was categorized as “very unhealthy,” just one rung below the “hazardous” designation.

It was the worst air day of 2020 in the Bay Area, as shown in the map below. Other parts of Northern California closer to the fires registered in the hazardous range. But experts say you shouldn’t just focus on how high the AQI number gets.

It’s also important to keep track of how long bad air sits over the area. The longer it remains, the worse the health effect. “It builds up, the impacts become more severe, particularly for those who have conditions already like heart conditions, respiratory conditions,” said Tina Landis, Public Information Officer with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

Back in August and September of 2020, the Bay Area went through 31 consecutive Spare the Air alert days, which are declared when air quality reaches unhealthy levels, Landis said. That was record obliterating the previous 14 consecutive-day mark set during the Camp Fire. Landis doesn’t think the East Coast is on track to have a full month of unhealthy air.

But even so, the health impacts from this week’s smoky air are likely to be severe. “The fine particulate matter is so small, it can get into your bloodstream, so it can really trigger heart attacks and asthma,” she said. “They are not really prepared with air filters and all the stuff they have out here (in California).

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