Air
I was wondering how many here have been affected by the Canadian wildfire smoke. I had to take my dog to the vet yesterday and was surprised he blamed his eye irritation on fine particulates coming from Canadian wildfires. He told me he had seen 5 other dogs that day with the same problem! I have to keep him inside as much as possible. I researched and found this online.
- Respiratory issues: Wildfire smoke contains fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, and penetrate deep into the lungs. This can lead to coughing, sneezing, shortness of breath, and worsen existing respiratory conditions like asthma and COPD. Hospitals have seen an increase in visits by patients with respiratory symptoms aggravated by the smoke.
- Cardiovascular issues: Exposure to PM2.5 is linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, especially for vulnerable individuals with pre-existing heart conditions. A 2018 analysis found that cardiovascular and cerebrovascular emergency department visits rose on smoky days.
- Other potential effects: Studies suggest that exposure to wildfire smoke may also be correlated with neurological decline, as well as reproductive and mental health issues.
- Increased risk for sensitive groups: Children, pregnant women, older adults, and those with weakened immune systems or pre-existing conditions are at a higher risk of experiencing negative health effects from wildfire smoke.
I found a guage we can use to find out the air quality where we live. You just type in your zip code and it will tell you if you need to avoid being outside.
Here is the link to that: https://www.airnow.gov/?city=Clinton&state=ME&country=USA
Here is the link to what the colors mean: https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/
It's yellow where I live so I plan on staying in for most of the day but I still might go for a two mile walk later this evening. Not sure yet.
I hope you all find this helpfull and I hope you all have a great day........
Replies
Thank you so much Bob!! I’m sorry about your dog but grateful for this information!!
Thanks Mark. Dog is doing much better. He is on pain meds and vet said as long as I keep him inside as much as possible, they should heal on there own.
My province is under state of emergency, but it seems the rest of the world is getting the smoke.
Our News on TV will tell us the air quality in this area....they use the same scale I am sure but I did not go view your scale but Yellow is a bad day but Red is the worst....and after rains it cleans up the air quality too I know from watching the news all the time and seeing them reporting air quality
@ AdelynRene What province do you live in?
@ Billwfriend On this scale Maroon is the worse. It reads "Health warning of emergency conditions: everyone is more likely to be affected."
Poor pup, even Mr. Nacho is feeling it. I live in Ontario and we were told to stay indoors. It has cleared up and yes, that smoke is affecting everyone. Thanks for the information
I'm so glad that your dog's feeling better sweetie
I'm a couple of provinces away from the fires and we're getting warnings about air quality here
Im in Toronto
I’m so sorry that you had to take your dog to the vet because of the poor air quality and so many particles in the air. I guess it is a good thing to keep your dog inside as much as possible.
I’m sure a lot of people are very grateful for the information you shared.
Affected here clear in Virginia, my nose smells it, and Hubby is mildly affected lung-wise. Mom mis worse off. My cat Dahlia is miserable. My cat Dixie is fine. Air now dot gov gives you air quality info updated every few hours. Enter your zip code and zap! I find it easiest to use of those listed.
Maybe. My nose has been stuffy lately, like it was an allergy out of season.
Im sorry your dog has not been feeling well. I hope he feels better soon.
Good to hear that your dog is doing better! Like Leo, I'm affected here in Virginia. Thanks for the info!
our air here the smoke was way up in the jetstream not down low but I had some sniffly days and maybe the smoke was the reason but they said on news it was so high up this time that we would not be affected by it...
atpeacemary We are in green today so all is well for now. It could be that the air is blowing north instead of south :-) Thankyou.
SunCloudJD We are in the green today so all is well. He is doing better.
Thankyou Jean
Thankyou Leo Yes, I searched the net looking for the ones that provide the most information and were the easiest to navigated. I use them every year around this time because I have allergies. The second one is actually a part of the first, airnow.gov website but I thought I'd list them separately so you wouldn't have to look for the button for the page that tell you what the colors mean.
Thankyou Johnny
Thankyou Annie.....Dog is doing better. We are in the green today.
Thankyou Ladybug7 I think in the beginning, they were affected all the way down to Florida.
So Bob I just saw we have orange air quality alert today. When he showed that I did see that I was wrong with what colors they show with that highly troubled air quality color is a darker magenta color. I for some reason said it was red. It does show red but that is middle of the p spectrum color a red day. So yes I think they use the scale you mentioned here. I just did not recall the entirety of the scale because they put on roadside signs here about yellow orange and red days. I do not recall ever seeing it much worse than red air quality days here but it might have.