The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) delayed flights at five major U.S. airports so far on Thursday, as authorities say Canada wildfire smoke is impacting viability and deteriorating air quality across the Northeast.
As of 9:20 a.m. ET, the FAA has delayed all flights bound for Newark International Airport nationwide.
The FAA had already said it “will likely need to take steps to manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte due to reduced visibility from wildfire smoke.”
At 8:30 a.m., the FAA paused flights from the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Ohio bound for Philadelphia International due to low visibility.
The FAA initially paused flights from the Northeast, Ohio and mid-Atlantic bound for New York’s LaGuardia Airport at 7:35 a.m. Just three minutes later, the FAA said it slowed all flights bound for LaGuardia.
“Low visibility due to smoke conditions in the region is impacting flight arrivals & departures. Contact your airline to determine flight status,” LaGuardia Airport tweeted at 8 a.m.
Departures from LaGuardia are delayed an average of 54 minutes, according to the FAA National Airspace System Status webpage.
Delays are assigned to departures within 1425 nautical miles, including all contiguous flights with U.S. destinations, as well as departures from Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Nova Scotia, Ottawa International Airport, Montréal–Trudeau International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport.
FAA ISSUES GROUND STOP FOR NYC’S LAGUARDIA AIRPORT DUE TO WILDFIRE SMOKE
The ground delay at LaGuardia Thursday comes after the Queens, New York, airport experienced a ground stop Wednesday evening due to poor visibility.
The smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia, sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and Northern Europe, should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.
The weather system that is driving the great Canadian-American smoke out – a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia – “will probably be hanging around at least for the next few days,” U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said.
“Conditions are likely to remain unhealthy, at least until the wind direction changes or the fires get put out,” Ramsey said. “Since the fires are raging – they’re really large – they’re probably going to continue for weeks. But it’s really just going be all about the wind shift.”
Across the eastern U.S., officials warned residents to stay inside and limit or avoid outdoor activities again Thursday, extending “Code Red” air quality alerts in some places for a third-straight day. In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered schools to cancel outdoor recess, sports and field trips Thursday. In suburban Philadelphia, officials set up an emergency shelter so people living outside can take refuge from the haze.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was making a million N95 masks – the kind prevalent at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – available at state facilities, including 400,000 in New York City.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.