Yosemite Closes Due to Wildfire Smoke
Sequoia and Kings Canyon closed earlier this week.
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Yosemite National Park will close indefinitely due to hazardous air quality from the multiple large fires burning on the West coast, the National Park Service announced on Thursday.
“With air quality projected to be in the unhealthy to hazardous range over the next several days, the park anticipates the closure to be in effect at least throughout the weekend,” the park said in a press release. “The park will continue to assess the smoke impacts, air quality index, and fire activity throughout the region.”
This year’s wildfires have been the largest in California history; so far, more than 3.2 million acres of the state have burned, with smoke turning the skies of major population centers like San Francisco an apocalyptic orange. As of Friday morning, the park’s air quality index sat at 281, considered “very unhealthy.”
The park is the third in California to close, following Sequoia and Kings’ Canyon’s shuttering earlier this week.