{"id":8802,"date":"2026-07-17T17:36:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8802"},"modified":"2026-07-17T17:36:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:36:33","slug":"nyc-has-unhealthy-air-quality-from-canada-wildfire-but-hope-in-sight-for-metlifes-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8802","title":{"rendered":"NYC has &#8216;unhealthy&#8217; air quality from Canada wildfire \u2014 but hope in sight for MetLife&#8217;s World Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fnyc-air-quality-unhealthy-global-city-rankings-comp-3.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The New York metro area is still suffering from punishing haze and choking smoke from the Canadian wildfires, but experts are hopeful a change in the weather could offer some relief in time for Sunday\u2019s FIFA World Cup Final.<\/p>\n<p>New Yorkers woke up again Friday to \u201cunhealthy\u201d air quality levels, triggering health alerts as the Big Apple ranked fourth for worst air quality in the world among major cities, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iqair.com\/world-air-quality-ranking\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to IQAir<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Residents have been advised to stay indoors whenever possible and to limit strenuous outdoor activities \u2013 particularly those who suffer from respiratory issues.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Canadian geese stand on a lawn as the sun rises behind the Empire State Building through a layer of wildfire smoke, as viewed from Hoboken, New Jersey on July 17, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>NYC wakes up to \u2018unhealthy\u2019 air quality \u2014 an index of 188, worse than yesterday \u2014  as Canada wildfire smoke blankets Big Apple.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Concerns have been raised about the impact of the poor air quality as Spain and Argentina prepare to square off at the open-air New York-New Jersey Stadium on Sunday to decide the 2026 World Cup champion.<\/p>\n<p>However, experts anticipate a well-timed cold front and some rain over the weekend could mitigate some of the worst of the smoke and haze just in time for the match.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to rain a lot on Saturday, so that should dissipate a lot of the smoke. Sunday morning, I think we\u2019re going to be seeing a cold front come through the area and it should kick out any remaining \u200bsmoke that we\u2019re seeing,\u201d AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva said.<\/p>\n<p>Even if the rain chases away some of the poor-quality air ahead of Sunday\u2019s 3:00 p.m. start time, players could still be at risk for certain health issues and should take precautions, experts warn.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>People wear masks after near the Oculus where Empire Shield National Guard troops were distributing them to commuters exiting the NJ Transit station on July 17, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">William Farrington for The NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt not only is going to be terrible, terrible air quality. It\u2019s hot, and that can cause an extreme amount of stress on the heart,\u201d Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and board of directors member at the American Lung Association said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is a very powerful and dangerous one-two \u200bpunch to the human body. It\u2019s \u200bgoing to be critical to \u2060maintain core body temperatures as low as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>With Post wires<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York metro area is still suffering from punishing haze and choking smoke from the Canadian wildfires, but experts are hopeful a change in the weather could offer some relief in time for Sunday\u2019s FIFA World Cup Final. New Yorkers woke up again Friday to \u201cunhealthy\u201d air quality levels, triggering health alerts as the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/nyc-air-quality-unhealthy-global-city-rankings-comp-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}