Wildfires Are Reversing Years of US Air Quality Gains, Study Finds

Why this matters: environmental and climate reporting with long-term consequences.

Wildfires have worsened ozone levels across the United States so much over the last decade that they have reversed around four years of progress, a new study has found. Surface ozone levels, or smog concentrations, steadily increased from 2015 to 2024, deteriorating air quality across the Midwest an