This question is especially for the people living in the Midwest (and New York) where the sky turned orange due to air pollution originated from Canadian Wildfires. Growing up, I learned from school textbooks that air pollution contains harmful gases like CO2 which trap heat from sunlight and warm the climate. When I saw the news that NY sky literally turned into a video game/movie style doomsday orange, my first reaction was that the temperature must have quadrupled. I googled it and it looks like the temperature is ok. So, do you think the temperature has risen, even a little bit due to this air pollution? Or do you think the temperature will rise in the next few days?
Side question: It doesn’t really seem safe to breathe that air. So are you considering wearing masks again?
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No, the temps were normal. If anything, I’d think the smoke would help keep temps down a bit.
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>It doesn’t really seem safe to breathe that air. So are you considering wearing masks again?
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You know the worst of it is already gone, right?
The amount of CO2 released from wildfires is big but not that big compared with the size of the atmosphere. The problem with CO2 is continual increase in global emissions for decades.
Particulate matter from wildfires blocks sunlight, which has the effect of cooling local surface temperatures.
This would be a question for r/askscience or r/explainlikeimfive if you want to really learn how greenhouse gasses work and how much heat they trap, as well as how much atmospheric CO2 can vary from place to place.
But the effect of having a lot of smoke in the sky over a city is that it gets cooler because the most impactful change to the atmosphere is that it’s blocking the sun from heating the buildings and ground as much.
My unscientific guess is it would *lower* temperatures. Particulate matter in the air generally has a cooling effect in the short term.
Things like volcanoes and asteroid impacts cool the climate because the particulate matter in the air reflects back sunlight.
Whether relatively small events like forest fires have any noticeable effect on temperature I couldn’t say.
The temperatures did not rise, no. It was in the low 60s which is low historically speaking this time of year.
Clear blue skies today and yesterday. No need for a mask any longer, but many were wearing masks outdoors the other day, yes. My outdoor time was limited to getting in my car in my driveway, and walking 10 feet from a parking spot into my office, so I did not. My kids did while waiting for the bus etc.
I’m sitting outside in southeast Michigan right now and we’ve got among the worst quality in the country, it’s fine. I wouldn’t suggest my asthmatic friends go for a run, but this temporary situation is pretty much over. Yes, if the AQI gets severe again I’d consider a mask outdoors.
Nah, it seemed to get colder here when it was really bad
(I haven’t been outside yet today but the smoke was mostly gone yesterday.. we could see blue skies and normal clouds yesterday)
I think you might be talking about long term effects.. a couple days worth is just blocking the sun so it gets colder in that case.
Temps didn’t rise due to the smoke here in metro Detroit last week, despite having the second-worst air quality index in the world at one point last week. We’ve had lower than normal temperatures all week.
Temps didn’t rise, no, if anything they dropped. The smoke blocks sunlight.
Lower temperatures, for sure. The smoke particulates block out some of the sunlight and so reduce how hot it otherwise would be. I have a weather station with a light sensor and the dip in sunlight is pretty extreme. In the PNW, we’ve had a number of heatwaves that are followed by forest fires. The smoke usually means the smokey days come with a noticeable cool-off of several degrees at times, even if the high-pressure system leading to the high temperatures is still there.
Also obligatory note that none of my family or grandparents ever remember there being a time during the year when the moon went red and ash rained from the sky, so for folks elsewhere in the country: this is not a normal PNW thing. I hope it doesn’t become a normal thing for you too.
Smoke and particulates are more of a control on surface temperature than CO2 in this case as they block UV from reaching the ground. Don’t mistake this for saying that CO2 does not have a warming effect, it still does.
No it is actually cooler than normal. The fact that the jet stream is running from North to South has a much larger impact in a small area like upstate NY than CO2 from the fires. That is more long term and global.
We call it Canadian Air conditioning.
I had great air quality the whole time this thing esd going on in the Midwest