Toronto's air quality just somehow got so much worse

The acrid stink of wildfire smoke and vibrant orange skies have taken over Toronto this week as the soot and ash from distant forest fires in northwestern Ontario settle over the region — and it somehow just got even worse.

Unless you were sleeping (and breathing) under a rock on Wednesday, you likely heard that Toronto had the worst air quality in the world due to the ongoing effects of wildfires in the province.

Pollution-ranking site IQAir listed Toronto as the city with the world's worst air quality on Wednesday morning, an unfortunate distinction it carried through much of the day. But anyone glancing out their window or even just attempting to breathe on Thursday morning has likely noticed that the air quality has only worsened since.

Toronto's AQI US reading of 360 smashed Wednesday morning's reading of 165.

However, while Wednesday's air quality index was enough to land Toronto the distinction of the world's worst air pollution, Thursday morning's much worse air quality has been surpassed by Minneapolis and Detroit, pushing Toronto to the third-worst position.

By 8 a.m., Toronto had overtaken Minneapolis to take the #2 position.

IQAir

Toronto remains under an Orange Air Quality Warning issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on Thursday morning.

According to ECCC, the current air quality index has worsened from the 8 (high risk) recorded on Wednesday morning to the maximum level of 10+ (very high risk), and could remain in dangerous territory through the rest of the week.

Air quality has already forced a wave of cancellations and closures across the city, including the shuttering of all outdoor pools in Toronto.