The smog and haze of pollution that hangs over major cities like New York can lead people to think that these are the worst areas for maintaining healthy lungs.
But according to recent research, they might be wrong.
In fact, the most polluted places in the country are on the West Coast, including three in Oregon, two in California and one each in Washington, Nevada and Alaska.
Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine developed an algorithm that used satellite images and measurements of particulate matter (PM2.5) to map air pollution caused by wildfire smoke, which blankets a region for days or even weeks at a time. after a fire breaks out.
PM2.5 particles, measured as micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3), are small enough to enter the lungs and cause a wide range of health problems, from respiratory disease to cancer. A recent analysis of data has shown a link between bushfires and dementia.
According to the study, the eighth smokiest city in the US was Medford, Oregon, followed by Grants Pass and Bend, Oregon. Then came Gardenville-Rancho, Nevada; Bishop, California; Yakima, Washington; Fairbanks College, Alaska; and the Sacramento Metropolitan Area in California.
Wildfires are common along the West Coast, although last year’s wildfire season also occurred on the East Coast, clouding the skies with smoke, ash and other pollutants produced by the deadly flames.
The EPA suggests that annual exposure to these types of particulate matter should be kept below 9 µg/m3, but with daily averages in some cities reaching 3.4 µg/m3, lead researcher Dr Dan Jaffe said this exposure represents ‘a very significant proportion’ is. of the EPA has been discontinued.
Researchers from the University of Washington and George Washington University found that the cities most affected by air pollution from wildfires over the past five years were mainly along the West Coast. However, in 2023, smoke from Canadian wildfires reached as far east as Baltimore, impacting cities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and DC.
Three cities in Oregon (pictured) were identified as the top locations for air pollution from wildfires
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Forest fires usually rage along the dry, warm west coast are becoming more common with an increase in droughts and rising temperatures.
They bombard the lungs with tiny particles that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and lung cancer cancerand early death.
Researchers found that between 2019 and 2023, areas along the West Coast were the hardest hit by air pollution from wildfires.
Three cities in western Oregon were the smokiest on average over a five-year period.
Smoke doesn’t affect these cities every day, but on average over the year, the smokiest cities in every western state had a daily average of at least 2 µg/m3.
In Medford, Oregon, the city with the highest smoke levels, daily levels of PM2.5 averaged 4.2 µg/m3 over a year.
In Gardenville-Rancho, Nevada the daily average was 3.4 µg/m3. In Bishop, California it was 2.7 µg/m3; 2.5 µg/m3 in Yakima, Washington; and 2.3 µg/m3 micrograms per cubic meter in Fairbanks-College, Alaska.
The smokiest city with more than a million residents is the Sacramento metropolitan area, where annual PM2.5 levels average 2 µg/m3.
In total, approximately 3.45 million residents of these cities have been exposed to unsafe levels of wildfire smoke.
Fire-related air pollution will nearly double in the United States by 2023 after the worst wildfires in Canadian history this summer
Fires scorched 42.7 million hectares of land in Canada due to out-of-control blazes in 2023, leaving much of the US covered in smog
The researchers could not say why air quality was worse in certain cities than others, including those where severe air pollution is more likely than in rural areas.
But wildfire smoke travels far — thousands of miles — and depending on atmospheric conditions, where it settles can seem random.
Measuring the impacts of wildfires on air quality and health is a labor-intensive process that involves analyzing satellite image data, weather patterns and measurements of PM2.5 in the air.
To speed up the process, researchers developed an algorithm that could quickly sift through two sets of data collected between 2019 and 2023, using satellite images of smoke and PM2.5 concentrations collected at ground level across the country.
The algorithm is trained to recognize smoking days from those datasets. The team then added health data from hospitals in the most polluted cities to determine whether the smoke affected emergency room visits during “particularly hazy days.”
The smokiest cities over the five-year study period were all in the western U.S., but during the extreme 2023 fire season, the smoke spread into cities that were typically spared.
Although not high over the entire study period, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin joined the list of smokiest places due to last year’s extreme wildfire season.
Additionally, Baltimore saw its annual PM2.5 average increase from 0.7 µg/m3 to 2 µg/m3.
PM2.5 particles, measured as micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3), are small enough to enter the lungs and cause a wide range of health problems
The researchers noted that states outside the West Coast also saw an increase in emergency room visits in 2023. For example, they estimate that about a third of all PM2.5-related emergency room visits in Detroit in 2023 were due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. had spread south.
Within the researchers’ study period, 2023 saw the highest increase in emergency room visits due to wildfire smoke, and there were an additional 16,000 emergency room visits in the US.
Dr. Jaffe, an environmental chemist at the University of Washington, said: “2023 was a strange year in which Canada’s forests burned like crazy and the Midwest was hit extremely hard.
‘For cities and towns, I think it’s important to plan ahead and think about what is a normal year and what is an extreme year.’
And him told Newsweek: “Although wildfire smoke occurs every year and affects some communities, our research tells us which communities are consistently hit hardest and therefore which communities should do the most to plan in anticipation of smoke development.”