Democracy Dies in Darkness
Climate & Environment

Why Seattle currently has the worst air quality in the world

Wildfire smoke made the city’s air worse than Delhi’s or Beijing’s -- with uncertain health effects.

By
October 20, 2022 at 4:33 p.m. EDT
Smoke drifting in from forest fires in the Cascade Mountains have collected in Seattle, giving the city the worst air quality in the world on Oct. 20. (Video: Reuters)
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SEATTLE — Seattle had the worst air quality in the world Thursday, with a heavy mix of fog and smoke blotting out the horizon, the surrounding mountains and the Space Needle.

It was the second day in a row that the city had the worst air quality on earth, beating out famously polluted cities such as Beijing and Delhi. Seattle’s air quality index, or AQI, reached over 240 on Wednesday and Thursday — a level defined as “very unhealthy” for all groups. It was hard to see the top of a building a block away, and people wore masks to protect themselves from particulates in the air and the acrid smell of smoke.