LOWER MANHATTAN (PIX11) -- Wildfires across New Jersey have sent smoke across the Hudson to New York City, prompting health officials to issue an air quality health advisory.
“Out of nowhere, for about two or three hours, it was so smoky and hazy,” Keaton Myers, a Lower Manhattan resident, told PIX11 News.
Myers said he couldn’t believe the eerie, yellow and brown haze that appeared to be coming possibly from wildfires across the Hudson. “I kind of felt a cough coming on. I stayed inside,” Myers added.
A Battery Park City resident chimed in. “When we left yesterday. It was very smoky outside,” Debbie Belevan, out for an evening stroll, told PIX11 News. “Feels like it’s cleared out now,” she added.
And it has, for the most part.
The air quality now is considered moderate, in the yellow, around 50 whereas Saturday the range was in the danger zone, between orange and red, 100 to 150.
But still, on Sunday, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a warning about excess fine particulate matter, which are tiny particles of pollution in the air. “Everyone is really at risk. your eyes and throat, sneezing, coughing, runny nose, and particularly those with asthma, COPD, very young children less than five and very old people risk,” Dr. Len Horovitz, a Lenox Hill pulmonologist, told PIX11 News.
Dr. Horovitz described how dangerous particulate matter can be for the vulnerable population. “Particles that are about the diameter of human hair and they can get into the bloodstream and cause problems for patients with cardiac disease or pulmonary disease,” Dr. Horovitz added.
This air quality health advisory also applies to the Hudson Valley.
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