Wildfire smoke
July 2002 northeastern U.S. wildfire-smoke episode
Daily PM2.5 peaked at 118.4 µg/m³ near Philadelphia across 15 covered metros home to 44 million people. 2 metros recorded their worst day on record; 15 placed a top-ten day.
Counting the extra PM2.5 above each metro's typical day, this event handed the average affected resident ≈ 6.7 cigarettes. Across everyone living in the affected metros, that is the collective equivalent of ≈ 294 million cigarettes. An awareness illustration of outdoor exposure at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette (Berkeley Earth), counting only the event's ranked days; not a medical dose.
Episode peak
-- cigarettes
The smoke map's scale, replayed over this event: the surface interpolates between covered metros' daily records, framed to the affected region. Hover for a reading, click a metro to pin it to the card. Days a monitor did not report draw nothing.
What happened, in the record
Qualified frozen evidence supports wildfire smoke as the broad root cause and supports grouping the contemporaneous affected events into one time-bounded episode. Qualified frozen evidence supports wildfire smoke as the broad root cause and supports grouping the contemporaneous affected events into one time-bounded episode. Qualified frozen evidence supports wildfire smoke as the broad root cause and supports grouping the contemporaneous affected events into one time-bounded episode. Qualified frozen evidence supports wildfire smoke as the broad root cause and supports grouping the contemporaneous affected events into one time-bounded episode. Qualified frozen evidence supports wildfire smoke as the broad root cause and supports grouping the contemporaneous affected events into one time-bo
Sequence: Allentown (Jul 6) → Philadelphia (Jul 7) → Baltimore (Jul 7) → New York (Jul 7) → New Haven (Jul 7) → Bridgeport (Jul 7) → Harrisburg (Jul 7) → Providence (Jul 7) → Albany (Jul 7) → Worcester (Jul 7) → +5 more metros
Affected metros
| Metro | Peak PM2.5 | Cigarettes, whole event | Peak day | All-time standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 118.4 µg/m³ | 10.6 | Jul 8, 2002 | #5 of its top days |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 89.5 µg/m³ | 6.7 | Jul 7, 2002 | #4 of its top days |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 86.8 µg/m³ | 9.1 | Jul 7, 2002 | #5 of its top days |
| Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ | 84.8 µg/m³ | 10.2 | Jul 7, 2002 | #4 of its top days |
| New Haven-Milford, CT | 83.4 µg/m³ | 6.5 | Jul 7, 2002 | #3 of its top days |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT | 82.7 µg/m³ | 3.8 | Jul 7, 2002 | #4 of its top days |
| Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA | 82.7 µg/m³ | 6.8 | Jul 7, 2002 | #7 of its top days |
| Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | 77.1 µg/m³ | 6.2 | Jul 7, 2002 | Worst day on record |
| Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | 76.8 µg/m³ | 3.5 | Jul 7, 2002 | #2 of its top days |
| Worcester, MA-CT | 76 µg/m³ | 5.6 | Jul 7, 2002 | Worst day on record |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 68.9 µg/m³ | 5.6 | Jul 7, 2002 | #2 of its top days |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | 68.2 µg/m³ | 5.6 | Jul 7, 2002 | #3 of its top days |
| Springfield, MA | 67 µg/m³ | 5.4 | Jul 7, 2002 | #2 of its top days |
| Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, PA | 61.8 µg/m³ | 2.8 | Jul 7, 2002 | #9 of its top days |
| Syracuse, NY | 52.3 µg/m³ | 2.4 | Jul 7, 2002 | #6 of its top days |
"Cigarettes, whole event" totals a metro's ranked event days at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette: what a person outdoors there breathed across the event, as the illustration. "All-time standing" is where this episode's days sit in each metro's ranked record (worst-area measure, since 1999). Full local context is on each metro's Air Records page.
The evidence
Official records
- NOAA Storm Events Wildfire, NEW YORK, Jul 5, 2002 "Smoke, from many forest fires across the Nemiscau region of northern Quebec, became trapped under a subsidence inversion, and was transported south across eastern New York from the evening hours of July 5, to the late ev…" record →
- NOAA Storm Events Wildfire, NEW YORK, Jul 5, 2002 "Smoke, from many forest fires across the Nemiscau region of northern Quebec, became trapped under a subsidence inversion, and was transported south across eastern New York from the evening hours of July 5, to the late ev…" record →
- NOAA Storm Events Wildfire, NEW YORK, Jul 5, 2002 "Smoke, from many forest fires across the Nemiscau region of northern Quebec, became trapped under a subsidence inversion, and was transported south across eastern New York from the evening hours of July 5, to the late ev…" record →
- NOAA Storm Events Wildfire, NEW YORK, Jul 5, 2002 "Smoke, from many forest fires across the Nemiscau region of northern Quebec, became trapped under a subsidence inversion, and was transported south across eastern New York from the evening hours of July 5, to the late ev…" record →
- NOAA Storm Events Wildfire, NEW JERSEY, Jul 6, 2002 "A northerly flow of air through the lower half of the atmosphere pushed smoke from forest fires in northern Quebec across New Jersey. The smoke reduced visibilities and could be smelled from the afternoon of the 6th into…" record →
- NOAA Storm Events Wildfire, PENNSYLVANIA, Jul 6, 2002 "A northerly flow of air through the lower half of the atmosphere pushed smoke from forest fires in northern Quebec across Eastern Pennsylvania. The smoke reduced visibilities and could be smelled from the afternoon of th…" record →
- NOAA Storm Events Wildfire, NEW YORK, Jul 5, 2002 "Smoke, from many forest fires across the Nemiscau region of northern Quebec, became trapped under a subsidence inversion, and was transported south across eastern New York from the evening hours of July 5, to the late ev…" record →
- NOAA Storm Events Wildfire, NEW YORK, Jul 5, 2002 "Smoke, from many forest fires across the Nemiscau region of northern Quebec, became trapped under a subsidence inversion, and was transported south across eastern New York from the evening hours of July 5, to the late ev…" record →
EPA AQS monitor qualifier 34
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 1 PM2.5 sample in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-06, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the sample. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 1 PM2.5 sample in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-08, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the sample. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 2 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-06, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 7 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-07, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 1 PM2.5 sample in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-06, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the sample. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 4 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-07, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 1 PM2.5 sample in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-07, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the sample. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 2 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-08, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 1 PM2.5 sample in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-09, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the sample. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 1 PM2.5 sample in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-08, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the sample. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 1 PM2.5 sample in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-09, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the sample. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier E — Forest Fire. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (E, Forest Fire.) on 1 PM2.5 sample in the candidate CBSA on 2002-07-08, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the sample. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- +22 more EPA AQS records on file
Agency and publisher pages 4
- Evaluation of the potential source contribution function using the 2002 Quebec forest fire episode Using Philadelphia PM2.5 measurements and NOAA HYSPLIT trajectories, the study identifies the central Quebec forest-fire source and states that its influence began in the mid-Atlantic on July 6, 2002.
- Impact of the 2002 Canadian Forest Fires on Particulate Matter Air Quality in Baltimore City The scientific study reports that the Quebec fires caused a dramatic Baltimore PM2.5 increase, reaching 86 µg/m3 on July 7, 2002.
- Long-range fine particulate matter from the 2002 Quebec forest fires and daily mortality in Greater Boston and New York City The indexed scientific record identifies July 2002 Quebec forest-fire wood smoke as causing substantial short-term PM2.5 elevation in Greater Boston.
- Smoke from Canadian Fires Blankets Eastern U.S. NASA satellite observations on July 7 document Quebec wildfire smoke entering the United States near the New York and Vermont border and extending over the eastern United States.
What remains uncertain
- AQS qualifiers are submitting-agency causal flags and do not by themselves establish EPA concurrence.
Status and provenance
Research preview: this record carries research-only status and its boundaries, cause, and name may change as evidence review completes. Grouping policy common_sense_root_cause_grouping.v2. The cause label reflects the assembled evidence above, not an IAQng detection formula.