Unhealthy air quality from Canadian wildfires plagues Midwest and Northeast
Unhealthy air quality conditions continued in the Upper Midwest and Northeast on Sunday afternoon, with the worst of it in eastern Wisconsin and Michigan.
Alerts were in effect for nine states Sunday and included the cities of Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit, as well as Syracuse and Buffalo in New York and Burlington, Vermont.
The smoke will make its way to New York City on Monday. The state Department of Environmental Conservation sent an alert Sunday warning of unhealthy air for some people.
The air quality index is expected to be between 101 and 150, which is known as Level Orange and is unhealthy for sensitive groups and may be unhealthy for those sensitive to air pollution, the alert said.
Those groups include adults over 65 and children younger than 14, people who are pregnant, outdoor workers and those with medical conditions like heart or lung disease, or those with respiratory issues like asthma. Sensitive groups should manage outdoor activities and monitor for symptoms related to air quality.
Healthy individuals should not be strongly affected by the air quality, the alert said.
Heat and flooding elsewhere
Flood alerts are in place for 13 million people in the Southeast including in Atlanta and the Florida cities of Jacksonville and Tallahassee through Monday.
Slow-moving storms are dumping 2 to 5 inches of rain over the area, with up to 8 inches possible in some places.
In the High Plains, from Colorado through West Texas, 1 million people were at risk for very large hail and damaging wind gusts Sunday afternoon.
Heat alerts are in effect for 14 million in the Southwest, Texas and Miami, where heat indexes were predicted to top 105 to 109 degrees. In Arizona and California, the heat indexes could reach 110 to 115 degrees.
The heat alerts in the Southwest will remain in effect through Friday.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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