Canadian wild fires

Timokreon

Getting comfortable
Feb 25, 2022
828
1,473
Chicago
These wild fires causing distress to anyone else here in the USA?
Chicago has had terrible air quality for several days... as in top 9 worst air quality in the world, terrible.

I've felt like complete crap for several days now. Dizzy, upset stomach, just BLAH.... terrible. Now I know why you see people wear masks around the world in cities with bad air.
I was only outside for 15 minutes today watering flowers, etc... boy that was a bad idea. Sore throat, started feeling worse again, etc...

I have two air purifiers running in my bedroom and tv room to help, but even that isn't helping 100%. I can SMELL the wood in the air.

Anyone have advice to help? Or suffering the same as I am?
 
Bummer. Not noticing anything in Houston TX.

I lived in Nigeria for five years and every year during November through March the Harmattan would rage. Dust blowing in form the Sahara. I was a bitch.

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Not here in FL. We're supposedly getting some Sahara sand, but mostly we're just living under a blanket of chemtrails this week :mad:
 
I feel for those who have to suffer with this every day. Granted, Chicago doesn't have very good air quality in the first place, but holy crap. This is bad. Reminds me of fog coming off the lake. We got rain, and everything is just coated with the crap from the fires.

I'm seriously thinking about getting portable oxygen, or something.
 
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Living in the Pacific Northwest, we've been subjected to wildfire smoke regularly almost every summer. Occasionally it's as thick as fairly thick fog. All I know to do is stay inside and run HEPA filters. It would be hell without an air conditioner. There's usually a break for a day every so often when a front passes through. I'm fighting a nonsmoker lung cancer. The cause is unknown, but the wildfire smoke is one of several things on the suspect list. I don't have a day job and can stay inside most of the time, many others aren't so lucky. I just looked at your AQI which is mid to high yellow. That's on the light side when we get the smoke. We spend a lot of time in red and purple.

If you don't know how to access an AQI map, try this Live Animated Air Quality Map (AQI, PM2.5...) | IQAir
It comes up in central Oregon, but you can zoom out and pan to anywhere you want to look at.

For trivia, I grew up on the northwest side, escaped for college at Carbondale, and never went back.
 
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Yeah, we have had the smoke here too for the last week or two in SW lower Michigan. I too, have been feeling the same way. On the days when the AQ is really bad I feel like I have a shovel of dirt in my lungs. I am trying to limit my outdoor activities (as much as is possible). What I am more distressed about it that these fires have not usually been a problem until later in the summer season.

I would bet that having your own supply of oxygen would help but I wonder how practical that would be?

The weather sure isn't what it used to be...
 
Yeah, it's getting bad again today. Light headed, etc... Really does suck.
I'm heading to the store tonight to get n95 masks, and to see if they have those little bottles of oxygen that are like shots.