Canada affecting NYC air quality NBC New York [Video]

The tri-state area, along with most of the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, continues to choke under prolonged exposure to the dense smoke filtering in from Quebec, Canada this week. 

It is the result of a “perfect storm” of phenomena coming together in the wrong place and at the wrong time.

First, there are the fires themselves. They are producing copious amounts of smoke in one of the worst wildfire seasons that Canada has seen. Second, atmospheric wind patterns have been locked in place all week. And they are positioned to send smoke straight into our backyard day after day.

The meteorological phenomenon responsible for this unfortunate, persistent wind flow is called an Omega Block — a high-pressure system in the middle of North America flanked by low-pressure centers on each coast. 

It results in a highly-buckled jet stream wind flow — resembling the Greek letter Omega — that effectively “blocks” …