Photos: Canadian wildfires have turned New York City into an apocalyptic landscape

On Tuesday afternoon, the air quality in New York took a dramatic turn for the worse, as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, blanketing the Eastern United States. It was a shift that seemed to catch people by surprise—including New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was criticized for the city’s very delayed communications on the issue.

By Wednesday afternoon, the air quality index topped 400 in some areas of the East Coast (the EPA classifies anything over 300 as “hazardous” to everyone’s health). In New York, flights were temporarily halted or delayed out of Newark and LaGuardia airports. Outdoor school events were canceled in much of the Tri-State area. As the day goes on, images from across the city have become increasingly apocalyptic.