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NEW YORK — Heavy rain battered the New York City area one day before the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium, while smoke from Canadian wildfires also continued to create poor air quality in the region.
Spain and Argentina will face off Sunday afternoon in the final at the outdoor stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. While heat and storms have been longstanding concerns for the match, the air quality in New York and New Jersey this week—which exceeded 200 on the air quality index on Thursday—have added an extra layer of uncertainty.
Big storms brought flash-flood warnings to New York City on Saturday, and many parts of the city were impacted by flooding. Roads in New Jersey also flooded, and the FAA issued a ground stop at Newark Airport on Saturday afternoon.
MetLife is one of the least accessible venues of the tournament, and many fans take public transit in New York and New Jersey to get to the match. Saturday’s storms impacted transit in the area, including parts of the subway system flooding, issues and delays for Amtrak, and canceled NJ Transit bus routes. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway, a major inter-borough thoroughfare, closed in both directions for about two hours on Saturday due to flooding. Major highways in New Jersey also shut down because of the storms.
Amid the bad weather, Spain stayed inside and hit the gym for its final training session on Saturday, after their outdoor practice was canceled. Following a delay, Argentina braved the elements, including an unhealthy air quality index reading of around 170 and a downpour.
Looking toward the final earlier in the week, meteorologists had projected that the rain would clear most of the wildfire smoke. As of Saturday, most meteorologists believe some smoke will still be present at the match, but levels will not be dangerous for the general public as they have been for days across the New York metropolitan area.
On Saturday afternoon, the government website Air Now forecast that New Jersey would have a moderate air quality index of about 100 on Sunday. The website IQAir predicted an air quality index around 80 in East Rutherford at kickoff Sunday. New York City meteorologist John Davitt posted Saturday morning that the smoke would be gone by the evening.
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