Currently in Chicago — June 28, 2023: A warmer Wednesday.

Plus, 'apocalyptic' wildfire smoke returns to the US Midwest.

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Eric Holthaus & Tim McGill
June 27, 2023

The weather, currently.

A warmer Wednesday.

1. Smoky Skies

2. 80s Return

3. More Active Pattern

Wildfire smoke wafting in from Canada produced poor air quality on Tuesday and could still be lingering at least into the early part of Wednesday. Clouds will break for some sun Wednesday as highs warm into the lower 80s. Highs should hit near 90 Thursday with partly cloudy skies and a few scattered showers and thunderstorms but no washout. Middle 80s for highs Friday under mostly cloudy skies with a better chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms. More of the same Saturday with highs in the lower 80s. A few scattered showers and thunderstorms Sunday with highs in the lower 80s but a mix of sun and clouds most of the day. Cooler lakeside every day by 5 to 10 degrees.

What you can do, currently.

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What you need to know, currently.

Smoke-filled skies shrouded the cities of the US Midwest on Tuesday, the latest in a chapter of the months-long public health fallout from the worst wildfires in Canada’s modern history.

At the peak of the smoke, Lake Michigan was invisible from downtown Milwaukee — just one-half mile away. Wisconsin has had more public health warnings for poor air quality in the past 10 weeks than in the past 10 years combined. At one point Tuesday morning, Chicago’s air quality ranked worst in the world.

Adam Mahoney of Chicago’s Capital B writes the effects of this particular part of the climate emergency go beyond physical health: “the visually apocalyptic nature of the recent wildfires, coupled with disruptions in day-to-day life, threaten to create mental health struggles”, particularly for Black folks and marginalized people.

Mahoney spoke with Vickie Mays, a professor at UCLA whose work focuses on racial disparities of physical and mental health. Here’s Mays:

In the Black community, we have to recognize that climate makes health disparities. So we can see this and say, wildfires are a big problem for us. So now we got to worry, and are we prepared? Are we going to be ensuring that those people who need a new mask have gotten them? Is it going to make us want to start addressing the climate disparities because it just reminds us of who’s the most vulnerable?

Vickie Mays

And of course, cities like New Delhi, Kathmandu, and Nairobi are plagued with poor air quality and routinely rank among the worst in the world. The chronic health effects from fossil fuel burning is one of the leading causes of death in the world, killing more than 9 million people every year. That deserves to be front page news every day.