Smoke from Canada wildfires reaches UK - as 100 million Americans warned over air quality

Smoke from a record number of wildfires in Canada has reached the UK, creating “vivid” sunrises and sunsets, the Met Office has said.

Satellite images from sunrise on Thursday picked up an area of smoke lying across the country, the Met Office said, but there is no health hazard for residents.

“The smoke can be traced back to the wildfires in North America and over the last day or so have given us some vivid sunrises and sunsets.”

The Met Office told the BBC the smoke is too far up in the atmosphere to present a health hazard.

The same vivid sunsets have been spotted in Ronda, Spain and an orange smoky haze is expected to wash over the Costa del Sol for the rest of this week.

It comes as 100 million Americans were warned that they would experience poor air quality as smoke drifted over the mid-west and east, causing some dangerous conditions.

The Canadian wildfires have shrouded much of the US and parts of Canada in smoky haze.

The National Weather Service in the US issued air quality alerts until midnight on Thursday - from Wisconsin and northern Illinois to Michigan, and also in New York and the East Coast.

People were told to take breaks indoors and consider using an N-95 mask while children’s summer camps, sporting and cultural events across the US were impacted.

“Air quality is unhealthy in every corner of the state,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said. “This is the new normal for New Yorkers.”

On Thursday morning, smoke hung over Chicago for the third day in a row. The air quality was “unhealthy” in the third-largest city in the United States, according to IQAir.com which tracks pollution.

New York landmarks including the Statue of Liberty were shrouded in a yellowy-brown haze earlier this month as smoke from the fires drifted south.

Canada Day fireworks planned for Saturday night in Montreal were cancelled amid air-quality concerns because of wildfires burning in northern Quebec.

Environment Canada has issued a smog warning for the Montreal and Laval areas due to fine particulate matter from forest fires.

There were 490 fires burning nationally on Thursday, with around half of them considered to be out of control.

Canada has already surpassed its record for area burned - with nearly every province affected by burning fire.

An area of 8 million hectares (19.8 million acres), bigger than West Virginia, has already been scorched.