Dr. Lisa Patel joins Ask The Experts to talk about how wildfire smoke affects health.
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00:00Welcome to AccuWeather's Ask the Experts. I'm Jeff Cornish. We go beyond the forecast to give
00:17you the how and why on all the cool and interesting things you've wondered about
00:20and wanted to ask in weather, space, and science. Today we're focusing on wildfires and air quality.
00:27Wildfires impact every state in the nation, and every so often wildfire smoke becomes a health
00:32hazard and can impact our quality of life in virtually every city. You may be in a neighborhood
00:38with a very low wildfire risk, but smoke can travel thousands of miles, sometimes traveling in the lower
00:43part of the atmosphere impacting our breathing. And joining us today to discuss this important
00:48topic is AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter, and also with us today is Dr. Lisa Patel,
00:54Pediatrics Physician at Stanford Medicine Children's Health, the co-director of the
00:59Stanford Climate Health and Equity Task Force, and the Executive Director of the Medical Society
01:04Consortium on Climate and Health. So thank you so much for both joining us here. I know you're both
01:10busy people. We do appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. We're glad to have you here.
01:16We do want to get right into it, Dr. Patel and John. We want to start with a question for John.
01:20So, John, many of us are never going to forget the smoke that impacted the Northeast in June of
01:252023. New York City, Philadelphia, a lot of places just cloaked in smoke when the New York City area
01:32skyline was obscured. You could barely see it vanish from the perspective of New Jersey. So that was
01:37smoke from Canadian wildfires. So what conditions came together to lead to the atrocious air quality?
01:44Where did the smoke come from, and how did the weather transport it into the I-95?
01:47Well, what a remarkable event that was, as you mentioned, Jeff, in terms of
01:52greatly reducing the air quality, making it unhealthy for several days, and really an almost
01:58an orange hue to the sky. You could barely see in front of you in some spots. That smoke was all
02:05generated by wildfires some 600 to 700 miles away up in southeastern Canada. So the fires were southeast
02:12of Hudson Bay and north of Ottawa and Montreal in an area, heavily forested area, remote area of
02:19southeastern Canada. And it was directed by the winds in the atmosphere right down into the New York City
02:26area. The winds were from the north through the entire, right from the ground all the way up through
02:32tens of thousands of feet in the atmosphere. And that focused the smoke right into the New York City
02:37area. And the other thing about it is that there was an area of high pressure, atmospheric high
02:42pressure, over the northeastern United States at that time, which is associated with sinking motion
02:46in the atmosphere. And that further focused that smoke right near the ground and led to that
02:51air pollution serious situation that had many health impacts for people. Unforgettable scene
02:58that had not been seen before in modern history. Certainly there have been times before where wildfire
03:03smoke has gotten into New York City decades ago. But for most people living today, that was a very
03:10unusual circumstance. I remember seeing those earth cam images from Hoboken where just you couldn't see
03:15the skyline. Right. So regarding the health, the impacts there, Dr. Patel, we want to talk to you
03:19about some of those impacts overall in general. How does wildfire smoke affect our health?
03:25Yeah. So we think about how wildfire affects smoke, wildfire smoke affects our health, both in terms of
03:31the short term and the long term. And so I'm a practicing pediatric hospitalist, but we tend to
03:36see, and I'm based out of California, what we tend to see in the short term, we see more pregnant
03:42individuals coming in and preterm birth. We see higher risks of cardiovascular episodes. So heart
03:49attacks, stroke, exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, and lots of asthma
03:57exacerbations. So this is a, it's really irritating to the lungs. And so people that are at risk already
04:03for inflammation from these types of events, we see lots of children, elderly, others with asthma
04:09coming in, struggling to breathe. And Dr. Patel, how long will it take health issues to present
04:15themselves after being affected by the toxic air? It doesn't take very long. Sometimes it can just be
04:22a few hours of exposure. And it's going to be different for every individual depending on what
04:27their baseline health is and if they have other risk factors. The other thing to think about is
04:31that some populations are more vulnerable than others. So young children in particular, children
04:37under the age of five, we see that they are much more vulnerable to periods of smoke because they have
04:44smaller airways. So that irritation can cause inflammation in their lungs that it's a bigger deal
04:49for them. We also know that those that are elderly are more vulnerable to wildfire smoke. And we know
04:55that outdoor workers, so people that are exposed by occupation are going to be more vulnerable as well
05:01in addition to pregnant individuals. So John, what can we do to prevent some of that nasty wildfire smoke
05:07from entering our homes or vehicles in our breathing space? Well, there's a couple of different things
05:11that are really important in these circumstances. One is that if you have to be outside, sometimes people
05:16working outside those N95 masks that were so important during the pandemic can be very valuable
05:23to helping to provide some filtering to those dangerous particles, particulate matter, small
05:30particles that are in that wildfire smoke that lead to the impacts that Dr. Patel was mentioning. So
05:35that's really important. Those masks can be very helpful. The right masks can be very helpful to mitigating
05:41and reducing risk in some circumstances. The other thing is just to be careful that when you are
05:47dealing with a situation with lots of smoke outside, you want to keep it outside. You want to be closing
05:53all your windows and making sure that that polluted air is not coming in. And the other thing is to use
05:58those is filtering. Air filters and purifiers can be very helpful in helping to reduce some of the of those
06:06particles as well. So you want to do everything you can do to keep the polluted air out of your home.
06:14Let's talk about the composition of the air after a wildfire. So Dr. Patel, why is it so toxic
06:19for our bodies? What chemicals are present in this?
06:23Right. And the nature of wildfires has changed substantially. And so the wildfires that we saw
06:29in Los Angeles, for example, it was in an urban area. So not only did vegetation burn, batteries
06:36burned, cars burned, furniture burned. And so what we understand about the pollution that happens in
06:42these urban areas when they burn is that they are much more toxic than the fires that burn where it's
06:48mostly biomass or forests, for example. The thing that we worry about the most in any type of smoke
06:55event is particulate matter pollution. So when anything burns, it creates kind of soot, right?
07:01Like that little those little black particles. Well, they can be so small. We have the best studies
07:06on something called particulate matter 2.5. And that measures the diameter of that particle.
07:12But there are even smaller ones, ultrafine particles. So those we inhale, they can enter our lungs,
07:18our bodies, and they essentially set off inflammation. And we know that particulate matter pollution from other
07:24sources of burning. So we burn fossil fuels all the time, right? Coal, oil, and gas. We have very good
07:29evidence that it results in higher risk of preterm death, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma,
07:38cancer. And so the more we can limit our exposure to PM 2.5 and ultrafine particles, the better.
07:45Well, John, the health impacts obviously very concerning, as Dr. Patel explained there. So what
07:51resources do we provide here at AccuWeather so everybody can be equipped with the right knowledge
07:55to protect themselves and keep their families in a safer position? Yeah, that's right. Both the
07:59short-term and long-term health impacts that Dr. Patel was mentioning there. So again, it goes back
08:05to you want to minimize your exposure to any polluted air. And AccuWeather provides many sources
08:12and tools in order to be able to help you do that. One of the things that we do is we prominently
08:17display air quality, just like our other weather forecasts and warnings on our AccuWeather.com website,
08:24the AccuWeather app. And air quality can vary in a very localized manner. So these forecasts are right
08:30down to your community and your neighborhood in order to be able to have that hyper-local view of
08:35what's happening right now and what we're expecting hour by hour for the next 24 hours. And then a day by
08:42day forecast out to the next four days. We also have maps so you can see how the air quality
08:47concerns are varying across your area. And we provide information about the different types
08:53of air quality concerns as well, the different types of pollutants, which could be the particulate
08:58matter that we talked about that is found in the wildfire smoke, but it can be also gases like
09:04nitrous oxide and also ozone and other types of problematic gases that can be present in the
09:11atmosphere. And again, you can't see those. So seeing the values of those, we break down the
09:15pollution by the type of pollution and how we expect it to evolve hour by hour and also day by day,
09:21so you can stay safer and make the best decisions. That's important information there. And it is time for
09:27our first viewer question. This comes from Melanie in Tennessee. Melanie asks, can air purifiers help improve
09:33air quality indoors during a wildfire? And if so, what type should I use?
09:38So as I mentioned, I guess the nice thing is 10 years ago, there were fewer air purifiers on the
09:45market and they were quite expensive. And for better or worse, because of climate change and because we're
09:51seeing more four days of air quality, there's a higher market now for air purifiers. So they've become
09:57much more affordable. The important thing to do when you purchase one is make sure that your
10:02purchasing one that's the right power for the size of the room that you're using.
10:06So if it's a really large room, for example, you probably want one that's more powerful. And it'll
10:11usually these days have the specs when you're trying to purchase one to make sure that you're choosing
10:16one for the size of the room that you need it for. Okay. That's great information. A lot of really good
10:21information on all these questions here in this conversation. So we're going to continue our
10:25conversation in just a few minutes and coming up a little later in weather wise, we're talking
10:29technology as we break down some of the wildfire early detection techniques in our three interesting
10:35things segment. But coming up next, we'll continue our discussion on wildfires and air quality with a
10:40closer look at how other parts of the country like the West are particularly impacted by wildfire smoke.
10:46And we'll answer more of your viewer questions when Ask the Experts continues.
11:05Welcome back to AccuWeather's Ask the Experts. I'm Jeff Cornish. We've been talking about the harmful
11:09impacts wildfire smoke brings, and we discussed how any part of the nation can be impacted. We're
11:15joined again by AccuWeather chief meteorologist John Porter, a familiar face, as well as Dr. Lisa Patel,
11:20pediatrics physician at Stanford Medicine Children's Health. And earlier, we discussed the universal
11:26impacts of smoke. We talked about a recent big event in the Northeast from 2023. But switching gears,
11:31some parts of the interior West are especially prone to longer term wildfire smoke, which gets trapped
11:38for weeks on end. Sometimes places like Boise, Salt Lake City, Spokane, Washington, and California
11:43cities like Sacramento and Fresno come to mind. So John, what makes some of these cities in the
11:47interior West especially prone to long-lasting wildfire smoke? And how do geography and climate
11:53put these cities in an especially risky spot for smoke to linger for long periods of time?
11:57Yeah, that's a great point. It's actually geography and climatology that are working against
12:03those communities in terms of producing the risk for extended periods of exposure to dangerous
12:09wildfire smoke and poor air quality, which can have significant health impacts.
12:13Part of the issue there is that a lot of times when you have wildfires, it's typically during the
12:19warmer times of the year and oftentimes in the in the summer peaking in the summer. And in those kinds of
12:25situations, the jet stream pattern, the jet stream is lifted well to the north. And the jet stream is that
12:31fast moving currents of air right in the atmosphere that really could help to ventilate that smoke and
12:38take it to other directions, which sometimes is a problem as we talked about earlier today as well.
12:43But it can evacuate it from the area or at least some of it away from the area near where the fire is
12:49burning. But oftentimes the jet stream is so far to the north that the atmospheric winds are very weak
12:55in the western U.S. during these times when there are wildfire episodes going on. So you don't get
13:00any extra help from ventilating that air away from the winds of the jet stream and higher up in the
13:05atmosphere where the winds can tend to move a little bit faster. The other problem, geography, is not in
13:10the favor of those areas as well because there are many times mountains surrounding some of those
13:16communities that you mentioned, complex and rugged terrain, and that can oftentimes help to lock in
13:22that wildfire smoke and it can be sort of channeled by the terrain and focused by the terrain. So that
13:29is another reason that it tends to linger in some of those communities. If a fire starts nearby, it can
13:35linger for some time, producing dangerous health impacts. That's sometimes a case where high pressure
13:39typically associated with nice weather is not always a good thing. Exactly. It is one of those cases.
13:44Well, Dr. Patel, how does long-term exposure to wildfire smoke impact health? Is this different from the
13:49short-term exposure we talked about? We are just now getting a lot of work underway to figure that out
13:58because it used to be before, you know, we had climate change to deal with. Wildfires have always
14:05been a part of the natural landscape of a number of places, but they would happen once every few years
14:10for a couple of weeks at a time. Now in places like California, wildfires are more or less eagerly
14:15and year-round. And that's because of how rapidly we've warmed this earth from burning fossil fuels.
14:20And so now we're starting to do studies. There's a study getting underway in Los Angeles to
14:26follow the population out over the next five to 10 years to see what the effects are going to be.
14:31The best evidence we have is from firefighters because they've been chronically exposed because
14:37of their occupation. And we know that those firefighters from the studies that have been done
14:42studying the health effects at higher risk for heart disease, for cancer, and for issues like
14:48dementia as well. And John, the January 2025 wildfires that were tenacious, they impacted Los Angeles
14:56County. Devastating, they were heartbreaking. While there were some smoke-related problems,
14:59offshore winds carried a lot of that smoke out to sea. So what makes the smoke risk much greater among
15:05fires farther north earlier in the season? Well, you don't get the benefit of those offshore
15:10strong winds to help provide that extra ventilation. And in that circumstance, in the devastating
15:15infernos there, there were very serious wildfire smoke issues focused in the LA County area near
15:22where the fires were burning, which were unfortunately a very densely populated area, which is why we were
15:27so concerned about the short and long-term health impacts. And that was an important part of AccuWeather's
15:33assessment of total damage and economic loss. It was not only the short-term impacts to health
15:38that were occurring from asthma and COPD and other conditions, but the elevated risk for cancer and
15:45heart disease and other problems that have been observed in other situations where you have many
15:49buildings that are burning and those impacts can be decade or more down the line. So that was a big
15:55concern there. As compared to other events, many of the smoke events in the West, as we talked about,
16:01are at a time of the year when the winds through the atmosphere are light. They're not gusty offshore winds,
16:07as happened during the January 2025 event in the Los Angeles area. And the air is just not moving as
16:16much, and it tends to be much more focused. And that can really keep the polluted air in place in an
16:23area for many days, sometimes even after the wildfire has mostly been extinguished. We do want to get to
16:30another viewer question right now. And Amanda from New York writes, how can I keep my pets safe from poor air
16:36quality during a wildfire? I would say the same thing to apply for pets. That would apply for
16:41children, for example. So as much time as you can spend indoors and then be running an air purifier
16:47indoors as possible. Now we do need to balance this. The one thing we haven't talked about with wildfire
16:52smoke is mental health. And two things about that. First, we know that there are effects from going
16:59through these events to begin with in terms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, but there's some emerging
17:05evidence that exposure to wildfire smoke in and of itself is a risk factor for things like depression
17:11and anxiety. And so one of the things that I say to folks, particularly those of us that live in places
17:16like California, where sometimes we've had weeks of poor air quality at a time, is that it is also important to
17:22balance our mental health and take some breaks outdoors as you need. So spend as much time indoors
17:28as you can, recognize that your mental health is important as well, and try to strike some balance
17:33there. We do want to thank both Dr. Lisa Patel and AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter for
17:37joining us today and sharing their expertise on this very important topic. So thank you both.
17:42Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Patel. And up next in WeatherWise, we're going to talk
17:47early detection technology for wildfires in our three interesting things segment.
17:52Things are changing out there. Stay with us. Ask the Experts returns after this.
18:04Welcome back to AccuWeather's Ask the Experts. It is now time for WeatherWise. Wildfires are highly
18:10destructive and deadly. And today we're exploring three ways technology is helping detect these fires
18:17earlier and faster than ever before. First up, from space, satellites equipped with thermal imaging
18:23can locate heat spikes over vast areas pinpointing potential wildfires even in very remote locations.
18:30Wildfire detection satellites use a combination of advanced infrared technology and artificial intelligence
18:37to identify fires from space. They can detect heat emitted by fires and capture imagery even through smoke.
18:43Next, we look above the tree line. Drones with high-resolution cameras can scan large areas. And also,
18:51Alert California has more than 1,100 cameras with near-infrared night vision. So when smoke or flames can be
18:58detected, these cameras pan, tilt, and zoom at all hours providing live visual data with amazing detail.
19:07Finally, on the ground, sensors track temperature, wind, and humidity. And this data is sent to a central system
19:13for early warning and rapid response. Wildfire detection technology from space and the sky and ground
19:19level is helping spot fires and getting that early warning to firefighters faster, much more efficiently
19:26than we used to in the past when people would physically staff fire towers in a pretty inefficient
19:31way compared to what we're doing now. So thank you so much for joining us here on AccuWeather's Ask the Experts.
19:36I'm Jeff Cornish. Remember, when you have a question about weather, space, or science, you can write us
19:41or send us a video question at Ask the Experts at AccuWeather.com. You can also call us at 888-566-6606.