Smoky Afternoon

Wildfire smoke shrouds the Long Island Sound (Larchmont, New York)--June 7, 2023.

The New York City area is experiencing a historic period of wildfire smoke. Thick smoke from wildfires in Quebec brought blood-red sunrises, an acrid smell of fire, and almost apocalyptic darkness during mid-afternoon. The visibility crashed to 0.75 miles and the Air Quality Index spiked at 484 in the City.

Climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels is resulting in increasing vapor pressure deficits (a measure of dryness). In turn, fires become more frequent, more expansive, and more intense. To date, the fossil fuel industry receives approximately $5.9 trillion in subsidies annually according to the IMF's methodology that incorporates externalities such as climate change-driven disasters. No policy efforts aimed at directly reducing the burning of fossil fuels are underway and CO2 emissions continue to move farther from the trajectory required to limit warming to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels.

Recent weather extremes--extremes that are increasing in magnitude at a faster rate than the temperature is rising--hints that the world's climate may be approaching or even have reached a critical point. Beyond that critical point may lie a harsher and more unstable climate. The unprecedented smoke event in New York City is perhaps just another symptom of the climate transition that leads to that more volatile climate state.