Why It's So Smoky in New York City and Philadelphia Today

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Firefighters Bill Monzo, left, and Bryan Moran put water on hot spots of a forest fire in Wharton State Forest in Waterford Township, N.J., Friday, July, 6, 2012. Another fire in that area spread smoke to Philadelphia and New York on Monday.

Image: Mel Evans/Associated Press

By Andrew Freedman2014-04-07 15:44:15 UTC

In recent weeks, parts of Europe have been plagued by poor air quality, including London and Paris. Now, it’s New York's and Philadelphia's turn.

But unlike in Europe, where the smog resulted from a combination of dust that blew in from the Sahara Desert and air pollution from cars, trucks and factories, the issue in New York on Monday arose from a much more common and local phenomenon: a New Jersey brush fire in Wharton State Forest, about 90 miles outside of Manhattan.

Above, video of approach and landing at a hazy Newark International Airport on Monday. Credit: Instagram/LimeyFlier

With gentle winds blowing from the southeast to northwest, the smoke from the 1,500-plus acre fire has wafted northward, where it cast New York City in a milky shroud on Monday morning. The faint smell of smoke was detectable in all five New York City boroughs; the National Weather Service issued air quality alerts for much of New Jersey and New York City until 11 p.m. ET on Monday night, at which point a storm system with heavy rain is likely to move into the area, scouring out the pollution and also helping to put out the fire.

Poor air quality with high levels of particulate matter is a major health hazard for people with respiratory problems and heart disease, as well as among young children.

New York’s busy airports were reporting reduced visibility due to haze on Monday, with just three miles of visibility at Newark International Airport at 10 a.m. ET, and variable visibility between 5 and 10 miles at La Guardia and John F. Kennedy Airports.