The Phillies and the Tigers couldn’t get their National League matchup underway last night due to the poor air quality in the Philadelphia area. And yes, it was particularly bad. Smoke finding its way down to our area from Canada was the culprit and this is the first time ever that a Phillies game was postponed due to poor air quality. This wasn’t the only game postponed due to the air quality issue, the Yankees and the White Sox, a WNBA game in the NY area, and a minor league MILB game with the Reading Fightin Phils taking on the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, and numerous other events were postponed as well.
Choking smoke from wildfires burning in Canada continues to billow into the eastern U.S., where more than 100 million Americans will again experience "unhealthy" to even "hazardous" air quality levels. https://t.co/1C2fBuKCz3
— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) June 8, 2023
In fact, this morning at 8:30 am, the FAA paused flights taking off and landing in Philadelphia due to the current situation and visibility, it resumed just minutes ago at the time of this article around 10:30 am.
Flights to @PHLAirport have resumed.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) June 8, 2023
So, unless we do some improvement during the day (which is forecasted) there may be another postponement of the Phillies game tonight. The MLB was the entity that called the baseball games off yesterday, the decision was not left up to the home team.
⚠️The previously issued Air Quality Action Day for Thursday, June 8th is being upgraded to the Unhealthy category statewide. In addition, this alert has been extended to Friday, June 9th at 11:59 pm. pic.twitter.com/jUD4098mgU
— New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (@NewJerseyDEP) June 8, 2023
We’ll see what happens as the day goes on, but New Jersey just issued a warning of “Unhealthy” air quality through 12 noon on Friday. The Phillies are the Tigers are still scheduled for a 6:05 PM start today.
