NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- New York City lifted its air quality alert Friday after clouds of hazy smoke from Canadian wildfires engulfed the city for two days.
An air quality alert issued by the National Weather Service earlier this week will remain in effect until midnight Friday night for all five boroughs, Long Island, New Jersey, the Lower Hudson Valley and southwestern Connecticut.
Clear skies arrived alongside beautiful spring weather just in time for an event-packed weekend.
Air quality had improved to "moderate" in the city on Friday, though it may be "unhealthy for sensitive groups" at times throughout the day, according to AirNow.gov.
The air quality should improve incrementally, north to south, in the New York area on Friday. A shower or gusty thunderstorm may roll through in the afternoon and evening, according to AccuWeather. The high will be 73 degrees.
The haze should continue to subside this weekend. While showers may pop up again Saturday, it will otherwise be partly sunny both days with highs in the upper 70s on Saturday and low 80s on Sunday.
The city health department tweeted Friday morning that "air quality conditions have improved" in the five boroughs "but may still be unhealthy for some people."
"Air quality is expected to improve over the weekend, but may vary," the department wrote. "If the air quality index worsens to above 150, all NYers should limit outdoor activities."
Several big events planned for this weekend are still on schedule, including the three-day Governors Ball Music Festival in Queens that runs Friday to Sunday, as well as the Belmont Stakes horse race in Nassau County on Saturday and the Puerto Rican Day Parade along Fifth Avenue on Sunday.
The Belmont Stakes, which is the final leg of the Triple Crown, may see some changes—or be cancelled altogether—if poor air quality returns Saturday, though that looked unlikely Friday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday that the state had instituted "enhanced measures" to protect horses, riders and spectators at Belmont Park in Elmont.
Under the measures, the race would be canceled if air quality goes above the "very unhealthy" level of 200 on the EPA's Air Quality Index, which measures pollution on a 0–500 scale. If the air quality is 150 to 200, considered "unhealthy," only horses that pass an additional pre-race veterinarian examination would be permitted to race.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said he believes the race will happen as planned.
As for the Governors Ball, organizers tweeted Thursday that the "skies are clearing" and gates will open Friday morning as planned.
This week was one for the history books in New York, where plumes of smoke from hundreds of out-of-control wildfires in Quebec covered the city in a thick, orangish haze and wrecked air quality.
The air quality hit "hazardous" levels during Wednesday afternoon's smoke-out in the city, with the AQI reaching 484, which Mayor Eric Adams called the worst air since at least the 1960s.
The Swiss monitoring service IQAir found New York had the worst air quality of any major city in the world at some points on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The unprecedented event led to flight disruptions, widespread cancellations of outdoor activities and appeals for residents to stay indoors or don their pandemic face masks if they went outside.
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