NEW YORK (Sputnik) — Smoke from wildfires raging in Canada has reached the greater New York City area, a spokesperson from the National Weather Service New York City forecast office told Sputnik on Friday.
"Satellite imagery did show some residual smoke move across the area earlier this morning," the National Weather Service said.
Most of the smoke drifted north of New York City throughout the North Eastern United States and did not affect air quality in the region, the National Weather Service added.
Canada’s province of Alberta has been gripped by wildfires since early May. Most affected is the oil-producing town of Fort McMurray as 1,600 houses have been reduced to ashes. The damage caused by wildfires to McMurray is estimated at 9 billion Canadian dollars ($7 billion).
On May 4, Alberta declared a state of emergency as the number of evacuees surpassed 80,000.
