How are the Canadian wildfires affecting sports in the U.S.A.?

Canada is facing its most destructive wildfire season ever, with hundreds of blazes sending thick smoke into the atmosphere and affecting air quality. Satellite images show the extent of the pollution spreading south into the United States, causing hazy skies and air quality alerts. The country’s annual wildfire season, running from May to October, has already shown devastating effects, making it potentially the worst season in over 30 years.

As fires continue to rage north of the border in Quebec and Ottawa, some of the NFL’s teams continue to be affected by conditions that have brought life in the eastern United States to a halt for some time now. With air quality rapidly declining, it’s anyone’s guess how and when the situation will improve.

Related: What cities have the worst air quality? Global city ranking

NFL teams facing the effects of Canadian wildfires

As you probably know by now, Wildfires in Canada are causing massive effects on regions of the United States. Indeed, the situation has been worsened by a swirling low-pressure system, which has picked up smoke, and pushed it further afield. The result has been a series of air quality alerts across areas in the central and eastern regions of the United States. With that, the poor air quality has now affected a number selection of NFL teams including the New York Giants, the New York Jets, and even the Washington Commanders.

“We looked at the air quality index,” Head coach Ron Rivera said earlier in June. “We reached out to our doctors, our medical personnel and asked about what our options are about practicing today, tomorrow, and probably next week we’ll have to continue to monitor it. We’re going to talk to the players before we go out there and tell anybody that has respiratory concerns, obviously, we would excuse,” Rivera continued. “Or if they start feeling any issue during workouts we would send them inside. Then we would have to consider tomorrow potentially going inside the bubble to practice. If we can avoid it we will, but if not, if the air quality becomes a little too concerning, then we most certainly will go in.”

Wisconsin officially worst air quality on Earth

To be clear, more than 100 active wildfires are burning along the United States-Canadian border, resulting in smoke traveling southward into several states. While New York has been most definitely hit hardest, Wisconsin officially has the worst air quality in the world as of this morning. On Wednesday, according to reports, an air quality health advisory was in effect for the entire state.