I cannot recall a day quite like this. The air smells like you are sitting next to an active fire-pit. Visibility is very poor. The sky is grey without clouds. The sun is mostly concealed by smoke.
The temperature is 71 degrees Fahrenheit in mid-afternoon on a late June day that my weather app describes as being "Mostly Sunny." The same app gives an Air Quality Index of 187. Airnow.gov shows a current air quality of "Very Unhealthy". The fire and smoke map of fire.airnow.gov shows a red and purple blotch over the Great Lakes. IQAir.com rates Chicago as having the worst air quality and pollution ranking in the world, ahead of Detroit, Lahore, and Karachi.
Who cares about numbers, apps, and data. The air bites the lungs, stings the eyes, afflicts the throat, clouds the mind. Smoke has traveled from Canadian forest fires to our city, as it has to many others.
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