Chicago's air quality this year is the worst recorded in a decade
CHICAGO (CBS) – Blue skies peeked through the clouds on Thursday, but recently, that hasn't been the case. In fact, Chicago's air pollution is the worst it's been in more than a decade.
The city has seen smokey skies, and at some hospitals, there has been an increase in health issues.
CBS 2's Marissa Perlman spoke with a climate expert on what's to blame and how long it could last.
On Thursday, the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue as the air quality in Chicago was actually good. But that was a major change from the week prior.
The impact of those smokey skies means the city has hit an unfortunate milestone.
Smoke filled the air from the Canadian wildfires, Fourth of July fireworks, heavy rain, and even the NASCAR Street Race hitting the city's pavement on city streets – could they all be impacting Chicago's air quality?
"It's all coming at once and it's all coming in one year," said Jen Brady, a senior data analyst with Climate Central, a nonprofit.
Brady thinks it all has an impact, calling it "compounding events," all of which affect the air even for short periods of time.
"When you're already in a condition that's uncomfortable and unhealthy, it's not helping," Brady said. "It's definitely not helping."
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency issued its thirteenth "Air Pollution Action Day" this year on Wednesday, when the air quality falls into a category that is dangerous for sensitive groups. That number of days is the most the Chicago area has seen since 2012.
By comparison, last year saw only one day when such an alert was issued.
All of these advisories came in the last three months when the air is hot, dry, and still.
"It's not unusual for us to have elevated amounts of pollution in the summertime. It's hot. It's stagnate," said CBS 2 Chief Meteorologist Albert Ramon. "But why this summer is an anomaly in all of the data is this weather pattern of high pressure focused right over the plain states that gives us a northwest wind tapping into air from Canada."
Northwestern Medicine has seen an increase in emergency department visits related to respiratory issues. Their lung clinic has seen a 10% increase in calls in recent weeks.
At Rush University Medical Center, they've seen a slight uptick in cases, but nothing significant.
"In these days that we've had recently, what we've been seeing is the air quality level has been at a level where the EPA and others say it's actually even unhealthy for the healthiest people," Brady said.
So is the worst over? And what's next?
"Un no, unfortunately, the worst is not behind us," she added. "There is a certain amount of greenhouse gases that are locked in that are not going to dissipate from the atmosphere for a while."
In addition, this week has been the hottest ever recorded on Earth. Leaders from Climate Central said Chicago residents will likely have to learn to live with more poor air quality days more often.