{"id":767631,"date":"2026-07-17T04:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/767631\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T04:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:47:20","slug":"code-orange-wildfire-smoke-affects-air-quality-in-the-dc-area-nbc4-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/767631\/","title":{"rendered":"Code Orange: Wildfire smoke affects air quality in the DC area \u2013 NBC4 Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington, D.C<\/a>., area has potentially dangerous air quality Thursday because of wildfire smoke drifting from Canada \u2013 and the air quality Friday could be even worse.<\/p>\n

A Code Orange air quality alert was in effect as of Thursday afternoon. Sensitive groups \u2013 including people with asthma, children and older adults \u2013 are advised to shorten active time spent outdoors.<\/p>\n

It comes as high temperatures climb to about 100\u00b0 and the heat index will likely be near 105\u00b0.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very nasty day to be outside here \u2013 that smoky haze,\u201d Storm Team4 Meteorologist Chuck Bell said.<\/p>\n

You may not be able to smell the smoke, as you could in D.C. during wildfires in summer 2023<\/a>. But it could affect your eyes, Bell said.<\/p>\n

A live look at the D.C. skyline showed hazy skies. The Capitol Building could barely be seen.<\/p>\n

In Arlington, Virginia, plenty of people made sure to get outside early in the day. The early morning sun glowed a bit orange.<\/p>\n

When Arlington resident Dave Knack woke up Thursday and stepped outside, he said he knew something was off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can taste it. So, yeah, when I come out on my balcony in the morning, I go [lip smack, lip smack, lip smack] \u2013 there\u2019s smog in the air here today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He got in his daily walk early.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t get out now, it\u2019s going to be nasty,\u201d Knack said.<\/p>\n

What does a Code Orange air quality alert mean?<\/p>\n

An air quality alert is in effect for much of the D.C. area. Go here to check all severe weather alerts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Under a Code Orange, AirNow.gov says<\/a>: \u201cPeople with lung disease such as asthma; children and teens; older adults; and people who are routinely active outdoors for six or more hours a day: Reduce your exposure by choosing less strenuous activities or shortening the amount of time you are active outdoors.\u201d Everyone else can enjoy outdoor activities, they said.<\/p>\n

Dr. John Torres, NBC News medical contributor, explained the health effects of low air quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more intense it is, the more particulates are in the air, and the problem with that is \u2013 once we start breathing it in, it\u2019s an irritant,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so not only is it going to irritant our lungs, our throat, the back of our mouth, it\u2019s going to irritate our eyes, our nasal passages, pretty much everything, and so you have to listen to these alerts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Make sure doors and windows in your home are closed, and turn on the air conditioning if you can. If you don\u2019t need to go outside, don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Experts also say not driving helps cut down on pollutants that go into the air on days like Thursday.<\/p>\n

What do we know about the air quality expected on Friday?<\/p>\n

As wildfire smoke continues to move into the area and mix down to the surface, the air quality alert on Friday will likely be upgraded to a Code Red, Storm Team4 Meteorologist Amelia Draper said. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments also said they expect a Code Red.<\/p>\n

That would mean everyone would be advised to take it easy outdoors.<\/p>\n

At times Friday, the alert even could get escalated to Code Purple or Code Maroon.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

[Credit: AirNow.gov]<\/p>\n

\tNews4 sends breaking news stories by email. Go here to sign up<\/a> to get breaking news alerts in your inbox. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe heat, combined with smoke from Canadian wildfires, is making conditions especially oppressive in the D.C. area. News4\u2019s Darcy Spencer spoke with people about how they\u2019re coping \u2013 plus shares a doctor\u2019s tips on how to stay healthy.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington, D.C., area has potentially dangerous air quality Thursday because of wildfire smoke drifting from Canada \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79,5832],"class_list":["post-767631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-washington-dc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}