Wildfire smoke swirling across northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan this week has prompted health authorities to issue warnings against prolonged outdoor exposure, especially to those with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and other respiratory issues.
Many U.S. communities have canceled outdoor activities and Ohio is one of at least 13 states under air quality advisories.
Toledo-area air quality is considered unhealthy, and precautions should be taken for the next few days, according to messages posted on Facebook by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and shared by the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments.
Heather Burnette, a health department spokesman, said fine particulate matter is a public health issue here, even if the haze isn’t as strong as it is along the East Coast.
“Obviously, we don’t have the worst of it here,” Ms. Burnette said.
But she added that people with asthma or COPD “will have a harder time pretty much the rest of this week.”
Conditions can change quickly, Ms. Burnette said.
James C. Willey, a pulmonologist and a professor at the University of Toledo’s Health Science Campus, said the haze “is a threat to people who have medical conditions” and advised against strenuous or prolonged outdoor activity, such as jogging.
“The recommendation is to stay inside where there’s air conditioning and filtering,” said Dr. Willey, who is also the endowed George Isaac Chair in Cancer Research.
Precautions are extended to include pregnant women, young children, and elderly residents, he said.
“It's the fine particulate matter,” Dr. Willey said. “Now's not the time to go out and exercise.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that fine particles from wildfires — especially those less than 2.5 microns in width, much narrower than a strand of human hair — can get sucked deep into lungs and cause respiratory distress.
The Ohio EPA issued a statewide air quality advisory on Wednesday.
“Ohio EPA expects the Air Quality Index to be in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” to “unhealthy” ranges,” the agency said. “To decrease the potential for health issues, sensitive groups of people [children, elderly, people with asthma or COPD] should limit prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity.”
Particulate levels are expected to remain elevated through at least Thursday, the agency said.
The Ohio EPA is providing real-time observations on its AirNow website, which provides information for specific metro areas. On Wednesday, the agency dashboard showed the Toledo area had a moderate PM 2.5 threat.
Richard Rood, professor emeritus in the University of Michigan’s Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, said there’s no doubt climate change is the cause for such an unusual situation.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in the East,” Mr. Rood said of a hurricane-like image of smoke visible on the internet from outer space, with the epicenter in Quebec and the tail whipping across the Toledo area.
Such massive wildfires are usually relegated to the West. Those in the East usually aren’t as large and don’t come so early in the year, he said.
“One of the definitive aspects of climate change is that the fire season is extending,” Mr. Rood said. “It is consistent with the lengthening of the season. The climate is warming. That has to have an effect on just about everything that is changing.”
He said there’s no doubt Detroit’s poor air quality is a result of wildfire smoke drifting in from miles away, and said cities such as Ottawa and Syracuse are having notable problems with air quality, as well.
Fires are in many places a result of unusually dry conditions.
Most of the Midwest, including Toledo, has not technically been in a drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and others on June 1. Exceptions were parts of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.
But that map, based on data through May 30, could all change when the map is updated with information since May 31.
Newest maps are published online at 8:30 a.m. every Thursday.
Ty Higgins, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation spokesman, said Ohio’s agricultural industry has been waiting for rain to avoid more crop damage.
The industry is doing reasonably well, given the circumstances. About 65 percent of corn and soybeans are in “good to excellent” condition because of moisture that’s still in the soil beneath the surface. But that’s about 15 percent lower than the previous week, he said.
“This dry pattern certainly has the attention of farmers across the state, but we aren't in panic mode quite yet,” Mr. Higgins said. “Younger plants don't need as much moisture as they would in July and August and much of the early growth is happening below the soil where there is still some moisture yet to be had.”
The lack of rain, though, has given farmers “an amazing window of opportunity for spring planting progress,” which often isn’t the case because of excessive spring rain in years past, he said.
“Planting is nearly done for all Ohio farmers, well ahead of the pace last year and [ahead of] the five-year average,” Mr. Higgins said.
Climate scientists consider both excessive rain and excessive lack of it as symptoms of climate change, on opposite ends of the spectrum.
“All in all, I would say the sentiment is that rain is needed sooner rather than later, but farmers will start to think about top-end yield loss situations if we don't get moisture within the next week or so,” Mr. Higgins said.
Relief appears to be in sight.
The latest National Weather Service forecast shows anywhere from a 30 percent to 60 percent chance of showers from Saturday through Tuesday, with the greatest chances for precipitation being Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.
First Published June 7, 2023, 6:19 p.m.
