Your guide on NYCs air quality: What the Canadian wildfire smoke means for your health and what to do about it

It’s a double whammy.As wildfire smoke from Canada and the Great Lakes region blankets New York, experts warn that scorching temperatures gripping the city could make the already hazardous air even more dangerous to breathe.“If we’re comparing it to cigarettes, it’s like you’re sitting in a closed room where everyone is smoking and you’re inhaling all of it,” Dr.

Ahmad Abu Homoud, director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, told The Post.The Big Apple’s health advisory remains in effect Thursday after the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) reached Level Red this morning — a designation considered unhealthy for everyone, especially sensitive groups.“The combination of dangerous heat and unhealthy air is a serious threat to New Yorkers’ health,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a press release Wednesday, urging residents to limit time outdoors as much as possible.“We have made free KN95 masks available at hundreds of locations citywide, including libraries, police precincts, and a number of firehouses,” he said, directing residents to on.nyc.gov/freemask to find out where they can pick one up.But escaping the haze isn’t as simple as heading indoors.Experts warn that, in some cases, the air inside your home can be just as polluted — or even worse — than what’s outside.Here’s everything you need to know about the current conditions, how they could affect your health and what you can do to stay safe.The Air Quality Index, or AQI, is the government’s system for measuring how clean or polluted the air is.“It looks at several different factors, including ozone and other small particulate matter called PM2.5, which is probably what’s being most impacted by these wildfires,” said Dr.

Megan Conroy, a pulmonologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.AQI levels above 100 can put people with underlying health conditions at risk during prolonged outdoor exposure, Conroy explained...