Arizonans in New York describe dense haze from Canada's wildfire smoke
A youth baseball team from Phoenix is in New York all week playing baseball games, but they had to postpone a game on June 6 because of the smoke from Canada's wildfires.
"It's unique, obviously. It's not something we expected, but it is very surreal in a way because you woke up this morning, and you can't even see," says Rich Tomey, regional director for Positive Coaching Alliance in Arizona.
He and the team are in Cooperstown in central New York for the largest 12u, ages 12 and younger, baseball tournament in the country.
"It's not horrible. I feel like we've all seen wildfires in Arizona and Californian and different places, so I feel like it's in line with that," he said.
So far, his son's team had one game postponed due to the air quality, but it was made up already.
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"I think for some of the cities, NYC and some of those places with the smog down there, it gets a little worse, maybe," Tomey said.
A little worse is correct.
Arizona State graduate Zachary Jasper lives in Brooklyn and says he can usually see the Brooklyn Bridge from his apartment, but not in the past two days.
"Around 1 o'clock, it was kind of yellowish, hazy, smokey, but then around 2 and 3 it just got super orange, like the sky was bright orange, almost red," he said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is calling the air quality the worst it's been since the 1960s.
The smoke from the Canadian wildfires is also impacting businesses, like the steak house Jasper works at.
"Some of the restaurants, since they do have the outside dining, a few of us have been called off of work because it is so hazy," he said. "I've never seen anything like this before in New York, but I've seen it back home in Arizona and the West Coast. This is a pretty big first for New York."
Meteorologists say the smoke will begin to clear out once windy conditions arrive by the end of the week.