WASHINGTON — Officials in the U.S. capital have issued a “code red” air quality alert as smoke from wildfires in Quebec and Ontario continues to drift south. 

More than a dozen states in the northeastern U.S. were under similar alerts, with schools in New York City and Washington, D.C., cancelling outdoor activities. 

D.C.’s Department of Energy and Environment describes the air quality as “very unhealthy” and is urging people to remain indoors if possible.

It’s all part of what officials in Canada are describing as the worst wildfire season in the country’s history, with little relief in the forecast. 

Smoke that thickened in the New York area late Tuesday is expected to arrive in D.C. in earnest by mid-afternoon, with predictions of poor visibility reaching as far south as North Carolina by day’s end.

It comes as U.S. climate activists grow alarmed with a number of recent decisions by President Joe Biden to approve controversial fossil-fuel projects. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2023.

The Canadian Press