Smoke from massive wildfires in Canada and Minnesota envelops the Washington, DC skyline on July 17, 2026, reducing visibility and casting a colored haze over the Lincoln Memorial.

Finn Gomez/Getty Images

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Finn Gomez/Getty Images

WASHINGTON – Poor air quality persisted Saturday across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, as smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Minnesota and Canada continued to spread and envelop the horizons. The National Weather Service (NWS) said heavy rain and storms could help clear the air in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this weekend, while dangerous levels of air pollution will still hang over the Midwest.

“As we begin to clear here in the east, you’ll get the next round of smoke this afternoon through tonight in areas from upper Michigan, eastern Wisconsin, to Illinois and Indiana, including Chicago,” NWS forecaster Brian Hurley told NPR. “That will continue until [Sunday]unfortunately.”

Major League Baseball has postponed Friday’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Guardians until Saturday due to poor air quality in Cleveland.

Hurley said conditions in the National Capital Region are improving, following the eerie appearance of Washington, D.C. landmarks in thick, smoky haze. Air pollution will remain high.

“But not at the level we’ve been seeing. We’re only talking about maybe a quarter or a third of the concentration of particles,” he explained, adding that the haze will have mostly dissipated by Sunday.

Clearer air conditions are also expected in areas north of D.C. along the East Coast, including New York City and northern New Jersey, where Sunday’s World Cup final between Argentina and Spain will be played at MetLife Stadium, an outdoor venue.

More than 900 active forest fires They are burning in Canada, including the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario, which border the northern United States.

President Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on Ottawa in a post on Truth Social on Friday. He accused Canada of failing to maintain its forests and said the United States is being “invaded by dirty, polluted, unhealthy air.” Trump said he planned to call Prime Minister Mark Carney:

“This is willful negligence, and is becoming an annual occurrence, costing the United States billions of dollars, a cost of this pollution that must necessarily be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying,” Trump’s post read in part.

Canadian officials have said in recent days that both countries share responsibility in fighting climate change. Human-caused climate change has increased the risk of wildfires and intensified them.