Air Quality Alert For Boston, North Shore Amid Hot, Hazy Thursday

SALEM, MA — Greater Boston and North Shore residents with lung or heart disease, senior citizens and children should look to restrict outdoor activities on Thursday after the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued an air quality alert for Essex and Suffolk counties.

The Mass DEP said the air was forecast to be unhealthy for sensitive groups because of elevated ozone levels through 11 p.m.

Moderate levels are forecast for the remainder of the state.

The forecast is for mostly sunny skies and very warm temperatures throughout the day with Boston and the North Shore threatening 90 degrees for the first time this season. There is just a slight chance for a shower or thunderstorm, primarily in inland areas during the afternoon, according to the Mass DEP's MassAir online.

Under the alert, the ozone levels are considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, including people with heart or lung disease such as asthma, older adults, children, teenagers, and people who are active outdoors.

People with lung disease are at greater risk from exposure to ozone, while people with either lung disease or heart disease are at greater risk from exposure to particle pollution.

People in sensitive groups should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion, take more breaks and do less intense activities, and follow asthma action plans and keep quick relief medicine handy. Symptoms include coughing or shortness of breath.

Thursday's alert comes after the region has dealt for weeks with haze created by the Canadian wildfires.