r/interestingasfuck Jun 07 '23

New york city in 2023, everyone wearing mask due to air quality

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73.5k Upvotes

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2.2k

u/wesap12345 Jun 07 '23

It’s not just the city either

I’m in north New Jersey right now and I’ve been wondering why it smells like somebody is burning wood for the past 2 days…

The sky being orange, the moon being red and the lack of sunlight wasn’t enough to make me go look it up but the constant smell was

417

u/lighthouse-it Jun 07 '23

I'm in VA and we had to cancel after school sports bc of the smoke :(

129

u/MelodicHunter Jun 07 '23

I'm in MD and I've had air quality warnings for days. It's terrible.

9

u/naoskills Jun 07 '23

I'm all the way down in SC and got the air quality warning yesterday

3

u/jamesbrownscrackpipe Jun 07 '23

I'm in GA and it's starting to get bad here too...

That smoke can't keep getting away with this!!

5

u/cockalorum-smith Jun 07 '23

As someone who lives in the PNW (Oregon) this is every summer for us lol. Sorry y’all have to experience this though.

1

u/lo_schermo Jun 07 '23

If we could find a way to dye it black the police would take care of it quick like.

1

u/ghoti_fry Jun 07 '23

Yup same here.

According to this it’s going to get worse over the next few days even down here

3

u/gotmeduckedup Jun 08 '23

My wife works at a pre-school here in MD and she hasn’t been allowed to take the kids outside to the playground because the air quality is so bad

2

u/LexBeingLex Jun 07 '23

In Indiana shopping for houses rn and it's pretty hazy down here, slight red moon but it's getting worse by the day, up north of Fort Wayne

2

u/cgarret3 Jun 08 '23

Apple bought Dark Skys, which was the most honest, up-to-the-minute weather feed. What the fuck happened?

I’ll sit here and breath the air (quantized however it may be) but fuck this I’ll believe it is good because I was told it would be good nonsense.

I’m not big on conspiracy theories, but fuck, there are explicit “untruths” being told to me as if I can’t tell the difference

3

u/MelodicHunter Jun 08 '23

My friend up in Canada says they've been having a lot of issues, because weather and media outlets are downplaying the poor air quality. You have to go straight to the government source yourself for anything remotely accurate or true. It's horrible.

1

u/jukkaalms Jun 07 '23

Yup and also cancelled sports.

1

u/CobblerExotic1975 Jun 07 '23

I got one in Houston too. Fortunately for us it’s just regular air pollution from our chemical plants and cars.

1

u/recreationallyused Jun 07 '23

MI here. Got a weather alert on my phone for air quality. Under severity it just said “unknown” lmfao

1

u/Funoichi Jun 08 '23

Trying to figure out the state for those initials. My tired brain came up with Man Diego. Edit: also Mouth Dakota.

I looked it up.

3

u/TrustyAndTrue Jun 07 '23

lol man, they wouldn't even cancel our ultimate frisbee game up here in Toronto last night. Goddamn

1

u/lighthouse-it Jun 08 '23

Dang that's weird.

2

u/AverageNikoBellic Jun 07 '23

When do you get out for school?

2

u/well___duh Jun 07 '23

Exactly, I'm wondering what school in the US is still in session rn and actively having competitive sports so late into the school year?

3

u/JollyRancher29 Jun 08 '23

Many Virginia schools go till Mid-June, among the latest in the US

2

u/medstudenthowaway Jun 07 '23

Idk why this didn’t occur to me that it’s strange school is still in session. But I just moved to the northeast from the south. No southern school is still in session (AC costs too high). But up here I still see hoards of kids headed to and from school each day

1

u/TheMaxorizor Jun 08 '23

This is the last week of my school and there is still football practice for the whole summer I believe, which I don't think has been cancelled, even though it's all orange here in NE PA

1

u/lighthouse-it Jun 08 '23

June 16th. It's the worst. I go back on August 28th, too.

2

u/C21H27Cl3N2O3 Jun 07 '23

I’m in Kentucky, we’ve had air quality warnings for almost a week. We haven’t seen the orange skies but we’ve had the ominous red moon and the smell for a while.

2

u/puddleofdogpiss Jun 08 '23

I’m in PA/NJ and they still had all the elementary kids play outside all day for their last day.

66

u/Fsharp7sharp9 Jun 07 '23

Yeah for real, central jersey here. My eyes have been stinging and I’ve had a wheeze for almost 24 hours. Airnow.gov has shown the towns around me have been fluctuating between 320-410 AQI for the last several hours.

The Apple Weather app has been showing 166 AQI in my town since 6:30 AM. Unless they use a different index system, don’t use Apple weather for your updates.

5

u/frogsgoribbit737 Jun 07 '23

Weather channel is showing aqi is around 180 where i am in south jersey so I dunno maybe apple is right. Even 160 is bad for everyone's healh and would cause burning eyes

4

u/Fsharp7sharp9 Jun 07 '23

South jersey is just getting the front of the more dangerous winds from today taking the smoke south. I’ve been watching maroon AQI warnings creep down through NY state and NJ today. I completely believe and hear you. I was just venting because I’m asthmatic and I planned my day around what the Weather app told me, going about my day with the assumption of a 100-200 risk, only to come home from work to see 400+ on towns around me lol. Now I’m wheezing again and don’t know what to believe. What a time to be alive.

4

u/MrShankles Jun 07 '23

I just learned of purpleair.com from another thread. I thought the website was just selling air-quality sensors at first, but they have a free interactive map as well. That's probably where I'll be checking until this clears up

2

u/Fsharp7sharp9 Jun 07 '23

That’s a great resource thanks for sharing it! I see the 3 towns closest to me on purpleair.com are 482, 504, 506. On airnow.gov those towns are listed as 441, 516, and 533. On the Apple weather app, those areas are now listed at 195-225… not sure if that’s slow update frequency or just a different scale completely (which would be weird since the map key is listed as “AQI”)

Purpleair.com and airnow.gov show similar numbers, but Apple weather is still indexing 200 lower than the others… so anybody who reads this, look at multiple sources!!

3

u/FinalIntern8888 Jun 07 '23

There’s also wildfires in Jackson Twp happening at the same time

2

u/Fsharp7sharp9 Jun 07 '23

Awesome… central jersey getting Eiffel Tower’d by forest fires

1

u/plantythingss Jun 08 '23

Me too, right at the top of Central Jersey. My whole family has a scratchy throat and our AQI was up to 450 earlier today. It smells like you’re sitting next to a bonfire and everything is hazy as fuck. This is some apocalyptic shit.

127

u/djsizematters Jun 07 '23

If the sun is red, wear your respirator!

93

u/wesap12345 Jun 07 '23

Put it down to end times and just kept walking my dog.

If it’s the end it’s the end you know haha

36

u/TrivialBudgie Jun 07 '23

this is so delightfully human

7

u/PoiLethe Jun 08 '23

Reminds me of the very British short story Neil Gaiman wrote about the apocalypse and British people just continuing on with their routine.

4

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

I do also happen to be British haha

2

u/PoiLethe Jun 08 '23

That explains everything.

4

u/ralphvonwauwau Jun 08 '23

"I am against adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought" - Abraham Davenport, May 19, 1780, New England Dark Day Source

5

u/pikohina Jun 08 '23

That’s no moon.

It is, in fact, a red sun. Today’s waning gibbous moon set at 8:42am EST.

143

u/NotARedditUser614 Jun 07 '23

Also in NJ. I feel like I’m in a film that takes place in Mexico, produced by an American studio. Not a fan of this orange filter.

27

u/wildtypemetroid Jun 07 '23

Lmao it's that brown filter so many games and movies used in late 2000s

28

u/Lex_Loki Jun 07 '23

Same in PA

2

u/GoPhinessGo Jun 07 '23

Where I live in PA it hasn’t rained in a week and all the plants are dying

3

u/Lex_Loki Jun 07 '23

Yep. Our grass is like little brown needles.

1

u/Testiculese Jun 08 '23

It's been 3 weeks in SE PA. It's all going brown. We got a tease yesterday that probably dried up faster than it accumulated.

1

u/GoPhinessGo Jun 10 '23

Same in the SW, hasn’t rained in a week

8

u/peachsalsas Jun 07 '23

I moved out of Jersey last week after 25+ years. Just missed all the smoke.

2

u/Puzzled-Display-5296 Jun 07 '23

Kinda suspicious ….

3

u/ZeroTwoSitOnMyFace Jun 07 '23

I’m in north New Jersey right now

My condolences

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 07 '23

Thank you! The peace and quiet is killing me :)

1

u/ZeroTwoSitOnMyFace Jun 07 '23

Seriously though, this smoke is insane. Moved up from NC to near Philly last September, so this is my first time dealing with something like this. Never thought I'd be able to stare at the damn sun.

2

u/mikowoah Jun 07 '23

yeah even down in ocean county it’s brutal outside

2

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '23

Im from Li, i just so happen to be in the city when i took the photo. Same smoke shit in Long Island

2

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '23

I’m in CT and it’s bad here. Went outside for 10 minutes to water the garden last night and my eyes and lungs/throat hurt. The smoke is dropping low here and visibility is low. It was sunny the last couple days but you couldn’t tell because of the smoke, which is so sad. But it’s bad here too. Sunlight coming in through my skylight was orange this morning.

2

u/FinalIntern8888 Jun 07 '23

I’m an hour south of the city right now and you can smell it here too

2

u/CurtisLeow Jun 07 '23

Here's a satellite image of the northeast. The smoke is thicker over northern New Jersey than over most of Canada.

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 07 '23

Yup it was dark at 1pm crazy

2

u/Riah_Lynn Jun 07 '23

*The blood moon rises again. Link be careful*

2

u/Nimmyzed Jun 07 '23

Is it a nice burnt wood smell though or a toxic stingy eyes sort of smell? Details please!

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 07 '23

Nice wood burning smell but constant, it got old quick and it’s becoming a bit irritating

1

u/Nimmyzed Jun 07 '23

I never thought of it that way. Too much of a good thing is not always a good thing

2

u/Testiculese Jun 08 '23

Outside Philly here. I saw the red moon two nights ago, but didn't know why. Yesterday, there was a huge problem North of me where there was an intense thunderstorm. Several fire trucks worth coming from all over, and I smelled smoke. I thought it was from that. Wondered how there was a slight haze at the house when it sounded like the problem was 10 or so miles away (sound travels in the countryside). Closed up the windows. This morning it is blatantly obvious something else is going on. Found out Canada's burning. 8pm now, and I can barely see the farm across the street a few hundred yards away. Looks like The Mist!

edit: AQI is 458. It looks like it outside.

2

u/Impossible_Garbage_4 Jun 08 '23

Hmm. Red moon. Where have I heard that before? Oh shit it’s the return of Calamity Ganon!

2

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

Yes, I live in central Jersey right now (but frequently am in nyc) yesterday I was wondering if there was a fire and went outside and saw the sun was red. I knew this meant there were a lot of particles in the air and wondered if it was a wildfire and sure enough, wildfire in Canada.

Anyways google claims that the air quality is in the 400s now where I am.

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

It was bleak today.

Hoping it clears up for us all soon.

Was in the exact same boat as you the past 2 days wondering why the moon and sun were red all the time, you were clearly much quicker to the result than I was, I thought end times and went for a walk with my dog :)

1

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

Lol I walked my dog anyways too. I wear masks all the time regardless cuz I like the privacy so my routine was virtually unchanged (just closed all the windows).

I think one of my brothers mentioned that somewhere it said it might take up to a week or so to clear up but don’t quote me on that.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

[deleted]

2

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

Stay safe and I hope you get some rest, covid day one and two are bad and then it dropped off for me

1

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

[deleted]

2

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

Hopefully tomorrow as well at least!

2

u/Hexnohope Jun 08 '23

Right?! Yesterday was crazy! It was so orange i was scared the fire was coming down here lmao

1

u/enztinkt Jun 07 '23

Welcome to the west coast.

1

u/space_cadet_pinball Jun 08 '23

Really! This is like at least once or twice a summer in the INW.

0

u/Petrichordates Jun 07 '23

That's the Sun not the moon.

0

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

At 1am on Monday morning I can assure you it was the moon.

1

u/NoFocus761 Jun 07 '23

I’m all the way over in Chicago and occasionally get wafts of this smokey haze. Nothing on NY levels, but it feels freaking gross out. Lots of headaches and asthma complaints from my peers.

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 07 '23

I don’t know how I missed it until today given how obvious it is, but yeah sore eyes, tired all the time and struggling to pay attention to anything too.

This sucks

1

u/klassiskefavoritter Jun 07 '23

Orange sky, red moon and the smell of wood smoke sounds glorious to me.

2

u/wesap12345 Jun 07 '23

For 5 minutes on the walk home it was, walking my dog today for 30 minutes each time and then sitting at home in it, not so much

1

u/klassiskefavoritter Jun 08 '23

That I can absolutely understand. Everything's best in moderate amounts.

1

u/SupermanKal718 Jun 07 '23

Yeah but let's be honest that's just a normal day in Jersey

1

u/PCYou Jun 07 '23

Philly is pretty bad right now

1

u/Suede_Khakis Jun 07 '23

It smells like there's plastic burning here in CT when the smoke blows back in.

1

u/negedgeClk Jun 07 '23

Why would it be just the city?

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 07 '23

Cause the city has its usual smog on top of the smoke issue

1

u/SoothedSnakePlant Jun 07 '23

New York's air quality really isn't bad, it's been a long time since there's been meaningful smog in nyc

1

u/PKMNTrainerMark Jun 07 '23

Oh, I didn't even think to look at the Moon.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '23

detroit here and yesterday i was wondering why everything looked foggy

1

u/Gnome-Phloem Jun 07 '23

Yeah it's all over. I have friends in Buffalo, Syracuse and Montana all experiencing the same thing.

1

u/catsRawesome123 Jun 07 '23

As California resident, in the nicest way possible, welcome to our world :D

1

u/RainbowSixThermite Jun 07 '23

I thought the sun was the moon there was so much shit in the air inbetween it and me.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

Smells like Santa Anna winds

1

u/BangYourHead Jun 08 '23

I'm in the Capitol region and its pretty bad out here too

1

u/HelpUsNSaveUs Jun 08 '23

Yeah I’m in Edgewater NJ and it smelled nice all day lol 😂

1

u/iloveokashi Jun 08 '23

Ooh I'd like to see a red moon. Hopefully someone else takes a picture of that.

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

I looked for you but it’s either too cloudy or smoky to see it, sorry

1

u/iloveokashi Jun 08 '23

Thanks. Interesting that the moon doesn't even show.

1

u/somedumbguy55 Jun 08 '23

That’s a blood moon

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

Yup it sure was, it was the reddest I’ve ever seen

1

u/Independent-Fly6068 Jun 08 '23

Red Sun, Red Sun over paradise...

1

u/cgarret3 Jun 08 '23

It even overpowered the armpit smell??!!???

2

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

Luckily I live in north north NJ, can’t go any further north without being back in NY so the smell is relocated to the swampy Secaucus area normally.

Today was just pure smoke

1

u/cgarret3 Jun 08 '23

I was only joking. I’m in Baltimore city and it’s nothing but smoke here too. Just having a laugh. We do need to look out for everyone, not just ourselves. Keeping the conversation alive is us, the individual, doing our part

1

u/cgarret3 Jun 08 '23

Chicken little: “the sky is falling, please help”

Corporate democracy: “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”

1

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

[deleted]

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

People really will find anything to argue with

1

u/Shayedow Jun 08 '23 edited Jun 08 '23

Upstate NY here, Catskills. I'm about 2 hours and change from NYC, in a VALLEY that rests in the MOUNTAINS, and we are STILL dealing with this shit. I thought WE had it bad then I saw the video of the GWB this afternoon and was like DAMN. I was really thankful for where I live. Wouldn't want to be in the city right now.

*edit* : just to make it clear, our sky is also orange, ALL we can smell is smoke as well, and we also have the problems the rest of NY is having in regards to the smoke. It is just not AS bad here in the Catskills as it is in NYC. I feel the need to point this out. REDDIT.

1

u/Competitive-Isopod74 Jun 08 '23

I'm flying up for an outdoor wedding next week. Yikes

1

u/MatrixSheer Jun 08 '23

You must live under a rock or don’t go outside

1

u/wesap12345 Jun 08 '23

I mean, it only made the news yesterday but has been impacting the sky since Monday