Picture of the Day: Eerie Yellow Skies

New York City blanketed with smog from wildfires in Canada

The wildfires that suddenly ravaged Nova Scotia last week are coming under control thanks to lots of rain over the weekend. However there are some 150 wildfires in Quebec, and the the result has led to smoke drifting south to the eastern United States.

The skies in New York for example were particularly hazy and smoky, which has resulted in the city's air quality index to be 218, or "very unhealthy" at one point, according to the IQ World Air Quality Index.

Beijing dust storm in 2010

It is currently at 173, which is still "unhealthy", though it is on par with Kuwait at 165 and Baghdad at 155.

The pictures of the yellow skies in the Big Apple remind me of the time I woke up one weekend in Beijing to see the sky was yellow.

Everything outside looked yellow. I wondered if there was something wrong with my eyes, or aliens had landed.

Then after a while, the wind blew the dust away and gradually the skies became blue again.

It was the most bizarre experience.