Canadian wildfire smoke leads multiple states to declare ‘code red’ due to poor air quality

There were 23 new fires in Canada today and 491 active fires burning overall across the huge country, the smoke from some of which has been shrouding cities and communities in the U.S.

Eight million hectares, or around 19.7 million acres, have burned this year, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. There have been more than 3,000 fires this year.

Not all the active fires were out of control. Of the 491 fires, 249 were out of control, 87 were “being held”, and 155 were considered under control, according to the fire center.

The fires are all over Canada. The National Weather Service in the U.S. said today that west to northwesterly winds (meaning coming from the west and the northwest) are coming from south-central Canada and that air quality is likely to remain poor.

The heat in far southern Texas yesterday was almost 10 degrees higher than in California’s notoriously hot Death Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

Rio Grande Village, Texas, which is in Big Bend National Park, had a high observed temperature of 115 degrees yesterday — which was the highest recorded temperature in the U.S. — compared to 109 degrees at the Death Valley visitors center in Furnace Creek, it said.

Texas has been sweltering under high temperatures, but today excessive heat warnings covered most of the Southern U.S.

Today, the high observed temperature at Furnace Creek in Death Valley was 107 degrees, said Matt Woods, a meteorologist for the weather service in Las Vegas.

While 109 and 107 most likely feel hot enough to visitors, temperatures at Death Valley peak around the second half of July, when average temperatures are 118 degrees, Woods said.

New Orleans has broken a record set 13 years ago for excessive heat warnings, according to the city and the National Weather Service.

Excessive heat warnings are in place through Friday, which will make the eighth day such a warning has been in effect this year, the weather service said.

The previous record was five days, set in 2010.

There had been four days of excessive heat warnings before the current heat event, the weather service said. Tomorrow’s will be the seventh warning, and Friday’s will be the eighth.

“It will be hot. Again...,” the weather service tweeted today, with an emoji of a melting smiling face.

Heat index values could be 115 to 120 degrees.

Among all the weather-related deaths in the U.S. each year, heat is the leading killer, the National Weather Service warned today.

“Take it seriously,” the weather service said on social media on a day when more than 46 million people were under excessive heat warnings and almost 62 million were under heat advisories across the country.

Last year, 148 people died of heat-related illness, according to the weather service, and the year before that 375 died.

The blistering heat in Webb County, Texas, has led to the deaths of at least nine people in eight days, the medical examiner said at a county government meeting Monday.

“We don’t see this in our county. Laredo knows heat, Webb County knows heat. And I think our county was caught a little off guard,” Dr. Corinne Stern said. “These are unprecedented temperatures here.”

The Associated Press, citing Stern, today reported two additional deaths in Webb County, which is on the U.S.-Mexico border. NBC News was unable to immediately reach the medical examiner’s office after business hours.

The temperature in Laredo was 105 degrees with a heat index of 110 degrees as of 6:30 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.

Stern warned residents at Monday’s meeting to protect themselves and to check on elderly relatives and neighbors.

“What we’ve heard so many times in these nine deaths I’ve seen this week is ‘Well, he knew it was hot and he was going to get the air conditioner fixed’ or ‘Oh no, he says he’s been through this many times; he said he was going to be OK,’” she said. “But this is heat like we’ve not seen here before.”

Baseball in the 'Burgh continued as planned Wednesday night. Before the first pitch, the Pittsburgh Pirates tweeted that they still planned to host Wednesday night's game against the San Diego Padres but said they would continue to monitor the air quality index level around the ballpark.

"We have been in contact with Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, our team of expert medical providers at Allegheny Health Network, and city and county officials regarding the current and projected air quality index in our area," the tweet read.

Fans had the opportunity to exchange their tickets for tickets to a future game as long as they did so before the game start at 7:05 ET. For more information, click here.

The Pirates prevailed, 7-1.

A Washington, D.C.-area nonprofit organization is urging sensitive groups to avoid outdoor activities Thursday.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments recommended on Twitter that certain susceptible groups should avoid “long or intense outdoor activities” and consider rescheduling those activities or moving them indoors.

The group also advised healthy people to limit outside activities.

A health advisory was issued for tomorrow in New York because air quality is predicted to reach unhealthy levels, state officials said.

The advisory is in effect from 12 a.m. to 11:59 p.m., state officials said.

Air levels are expected to deteriorate for the western and central regions of the state, along with eastern Lake Ontario and the Adirondacks, according to a joint statement from Basil Seggos, the commissioner of the state Environmental Conservation Department, and Dr. James McDonald, the state health commissioner.

The advisory warns that everyone may begin to experience health effects and that members of sensitive groups may face more serious effects.

People with heart or breathing problems, the elderly and children may be more susceptible to exposure.

Health officials also recommend minimizing exposure both indoors and outdoors where fine particle concentrations may be higher.