It’s giving "Blade Runner"

At around 3 pm ET yesterday afternoon, New York City recorded a score over 340 on the air quality index scale – good for the worst air quality in the world (for context: anything above 300 is considered “hazardous”).

And while finance-bro vape clouds or exhaust from the city’s bajillion cabs may initially come to mind, the real culprit is located outside the city. And it’s impacting more than just New York.

Hundreds of wildfires are currently burning across Canada, tossing up smoke that’s affecting ~100 million Americans across more than 18 states. As of midday Wednesday, the air quality was considered unhealthy in parts of Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia, among other states, according to AirNow.

Because of the smoke:

• The MLB’s New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies both postponed yesterday’s home games.
• The FAA temporarily grounded all planes at LaGuardia Airport in NYC yesterday afternoon due to low visibility.
• Officials reported an uptick in emergency room visits in some parts of New York.

Exposure to the particulate matter in smoke can cause irritation, coughing, sneezing, and shortness of breath. Environmental health researchers have also documented increased rates of asthma attacks and heart attacks after exposure to wildfire smoke over a few days, the WSJ reports.

🔥📸 Big picture: Canada is experiencing what NASA has described as an “unusually intense” start to its wildfire season. To put that into numbers: the country has seen more than 8.7 million acres – an area larger than Maryland – burned so far this year. In a typical fire season, about 600,000 acres would have been burned by this point.