Canadian Wildfire Smoke Cooled New York by 3 Degrees and Trapped Air Toxicants
When smoke from Canadian wildfires turned New York City skies apocalyptically orange in June 2023, it delivered catastrophic air quality and an unexpected side effect: cooling the New York City region by about 3 degrees Celsius.
This temperature drop, called “global dimming,” which is the opposite of “global warming,” trapped dangerous pollutants near the ground, according to Rutgers Health researchers who published their breakthrough findings in Nature’s Communications Earth & Environment.
“With all you hear about the negative consequences of global warming, you might think the cooling would be good,” said Philip Demokritou, senior study author and Henry Rutgers chair and professor of nanoscience and environmental bioengineering at the Rutgers School of Public Health and the School of Engineering. “But cooler temperatures are equally bad as global warming. This effect on microclimate can disrupt the hydrological cycle, trap other toxic air compounds and increase human exposure levels.”
(Source: Rutgers Today- April 21, 2025)
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