Update (1345ET):

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, New York City’s LaGuardia Airport has grounded departures “due to low visibility” until 1400 EST. 

Nearby Newark Liberty International Airport tweeted that “current smoke condition may impact your travel, please check with your airline to determine the status of your flight.”

Besides New York City area airports, ones in Philadelphia and across Baltimore–Washington metro area also experienced hazy conditions. 

Samuel Ausby with the FAA Command Center tweeted, “Today we’re dealing with some smoke and haze in the northeast.”

“There are some fires in Canada that have been producing some smoke, due to the wind patterns it is now impacting the northeast of the US so from Boston, the NY metro area, Philadelphia and the DC metro area — are all experiencing some smoke that could impact travel through the airports,” he said. 

According to the flight-tracking website FlightAware, there have been 1,147 flights delayed and 73 canceled. Many of the flight disruptions are across the East Coast. 

The smoky conditions across the Northeast are insane… It’s like Mars. 

The Northeast looks like scenes from Blade Runner 2049.

Thanks, Canada. 

*   *   * 

Nearly 100 million people across 18 states, from New Hampshire to South Carolina, are under air quality alerts Wednesday morning, according to NBC News. A low-pressure system stuck off Nova Scotia is sending smoke from Canadian wildfires into the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. 

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fires Centre, more than 400 wildfires are burning in Canada. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s radar-based analysis shows smoke from the wildfires pouring in from eastern Ontario and into the US. 

On Tuesday night, New York City had the worst air pollution of any major city in the world, according to the IQAir website. Many other major US cities were blanketed in haze with air quality levels deemed “unhealthy.” 

“EVERYONE should avoid the outdoors,” one meteorologist tweeted. 

This morning, residents along the East Coast woke up to the following:

Richard Bann, a forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center, told Bloomberg:

“Relief is not coming anytime soon.

“For the time being the Northeast US is in a position where it going to continue to ebb and flow with the thickness and intensity of the smoke.”

Meanwhile, NBC News is pushing masks: “If you need to spend time outside in smoke, a mask can help.”

Perhaps El Nino is to blame.