The wildfire smoke hanging over the region is expected to get worse on Friday, prompting Arlington to move or cancel all of its outdoor parks and recreation programming for the day.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has issued a Code Red air quality alert for Northern Virginia on Friday, July 17 — an escalation from the Code Orange alert in effect today (Thursday). A Code Red means air pollution has reached a level considered unhealthy for the general population, not just sensitive groups like children, older adults and people with asthma.
That prompted a broader response from Arlington’s Department of Parks and Recreation than a day earlier.
Rather than pausing programs only during the afternoon, as it did Thursday, the county is moving or canceling outdoor programming — including league practices and games — for all of Friday.
Due to a Code Red Air Quality alert, Parks & Recreation and partner outdoor programming at County outdoor facilities, including league practices and games, will be moved indoors or canceled on Friday, July 17.
Impacts to programming at Arlington County community centers, parks, or facilities will be communicated directly to program participants via email. Should the weather change, programmatic updates will also be communicated directly to participants.
Summer Camp Programming: In the event of summer camp relocations, early closings, or cancellations, program participants will be notified directly via email and phone call or text.
Visit our libraries or community centers for free places to spend time indoors.
The county pointed residents to libraries and community centers as free indoor spaces during the alert.
More on the alert, from Virginia DEQ:
…AIR QUALITY ALERT IS IN EFFECT FOR FRIDAY JULY 17 2026…
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has issued a Code RED Air Quality Alert Friday for Northern Virginia.
A Code Red Air Quality Alert means that air pollution concentrations within the region are unhealthy for the general population. The effects of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding strenuous activity or exercise outdoors.
For more information on ground-level ozone and fine particles visit the web site Virginia DEQ air quality web site at www.deq.virginia.gov
Local forecasters say winds from the northwest will steer the plume through the Mid-Atlantic starting tonight. The smoke could sit thicker and closer to the ground than earlier this week, dimming the midday sun even under otherwise sunny skies. It’s expected to be the region’s worst air pollution since the record-breaking smoke in June 2023.
Like 2023, the smoke is drifting from wildfires burning primarily in Canada — in addition to fires in northern Minnesota — and has fouled the air from the Great Lakes to the East Coast.
Officials in cities across the Midwest and Northeast have urged residents to stay inside or wear masks as air quality reached unhealthy to hazardous levels. Forest rangers this week, meanwhile, worked to clear thousands of campers from Minnesota’s Boundary Waters wilderness ahead of spreading fires, the Associated Press reported.
The fine particles in wildfire smoke can lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream. A study published this year found that long-term exposure to those particles contributed to an average of 24,100 deaths a year in the lower 48 states.
Meteorologists have said the smoke could keep returning until the last of the fires burn out — potentially months, until snow falls across Canada and northern Minnesota. A lingering high-pressure system has trapped the smoke close to the ground, and in parts of the Midwest it has cut visibility to as little as a half-mile.
Cities up and down the East Coast have taken steps similar to Arlington’s. New York handed out tens of thousands of masks at transit hubs and moved school and park activities indoors, while Philadelphia officials urged people to skip strenuous outdoor activity altogether.
“Today is not the day to start your marathon training plan,” said Philadelphia health commissioner Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson.
