Detroit and DC suffer worst air quality in world while at least 24 killed in southern heatwave – live

According to meteorologist Matthew Cappucci, much of the US will be facing intermittent smoke all summer long — probably until October.

With the fires not being combatted and unlikely to die down during the summer months, every northwest wind will bring smoke back to the eastern US.

The National Weather Service’s latest bulletin states:

Oppressive heat and humidity will continue across the Lower Mississippi Valley and Mid-South through Saturday with max heat indices exceeding 110 degrees. Sweltering temperatures into the upper 90s are expected to enter much of the Southeast on Sunday and linger through July 4th, with elevated heat indices also remaining across South Texas and the Gulf Coast.

There are 480 fires burning throughout the country, according to the Canadian Interagency Fire Center, with one new fire igniting on Wednesday.

Some 237 fires are burning out-of-control and impacting provinces and territories from coast to coast. The blazes are impacting 10 provinces, two territories and national parks.

Air quality has plummeted again this week across large parts of the United States and Canada due to more than 450 wildfires burning north of the border.

Air quality ranged from “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” in the Midwest with Chicago ranking number one in worst air quality in the world on Tuesday.

That accolade has now spread to Detroit and Washington, DC.

Here’s how wildfire smoke affects your health:

The relentless, triple-digit heatwave – exacerbated by the climate crisis – has entered its third week. The severe conditions have caused 13 deaths in Texas and led to a spike in emergency room attendance across the state.

The death toll from the extreme heat across the southern US continues to climb with 11 confirmed deaths In Webb County, Texas, and two in Caddo Parish, Louisiana.

A further nine deaths in Texas prisons are suspected to be related to the heat but have not been officially confirmed by authorities.

Officials are also investigating the deaths of a postal worker in Dallas, and a hiker and his teenage stepson at Big Bend National Park, as being related to the heat.

As of 12.15pm ET, Detroit had the worst urban air quality in the world with a US AQI of 184, narrowly ahead of Washington, DC (182), then Dubai (156), Lahore and Sao Paulo (153), and then Chicago at 151.

Rounding out the top ten are Shenyang (146), Jakarta (129), Montreal (114), and Minneapolis (109).

The city with the cleanest air in the world is Oslo with a score of 8.

A broad swathe of the US from Norfolk, Virginia, up to Jersey City to the west of New York City, and then across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and reaching as far as Des Moines to the west is now registering “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy” air quality as of midday.

The air quality is currently especially bad in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Toledo, Madison, and Cedar Rapids, reaching into the “very unhealthy” zone.

Washington, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Philadephia and Detroit remain firmly in the “unhealthy” zone.