New York air pollution is ‘hazardous’, in the Very Unhealthy category, with no end in sight for the thick smoke pouring south from more than 400 Canadian wildfires. At least 13 US states have air quality alerts issued, impacting approximately 115 million people. Experts said the pollution could persist into the weekend. There have been mass evacuations in Quebec province. Canadian officials warned that this could be the country’s worst wildfire season on record, with over 6.7 million acres already scorched. By 8 June hundreds of uncontrolled forest fires were threatening Canada’s critical infrastructure and forcing evacuations. Wildfires are common in Canada’s western provinces, but this year they rapidly spread east. About 9.4m acres have already burned. Canada’s wildfires are part of our new climate reality.