Here to the east of Cleveland, air quality is 80. Seems ok to me.
It’s 66 outside DC. Fine for running and long walks.
We down to 64 in Central Jersey.
Does any Doper live close to Newark/New York? I’m curious if the smoke/haze/pollution will be an issue in today’s World Cup Final.
I’m not in the area, but my Accuweather app shows a “Good” AQI (40) in Newark right now, and continuing to be good through the rest of the day.
In Chicago it was near 300. Better today but that was bad. I have an air quality gizmo and inside I was getting 120. Fortunately I do not suffer from asthma.
Right now it reads 32 which is not great (usually 1 or 0).
I’m not that far, it looks like smoke won’t be an issue.
MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford
Their current reading is only 52 AQI.
Thank you!
We had the highest AQI reading ever recorded in NE Indiana the other day, it was up over 500. The sun was a spooky orange-red color and there were times I almost couldn’t see across the street. It’s better today but still a bit smoky.
500??!!!
Wow
Barely got to 300 in Chicago.
That’s still bad.
Actually, it got well above that here in Chicago on Thursday afternoon/evening. To quote myself from upthread:
That seems unlikely. Beyond possible.
Here is what I got from Accuweather:
shrug It’s what was reported on WGN’s news site. Sorry if you find it unbelievable.
On Thursday evening, I was looking at my own Accuweather app, as well as the AirNow.gov site, and was seeing numbers up in the 500s and above.
" The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a standardized scale from 0 to 500 that translates pollutant concentrations into a single number representing health risks. Higher AQI values indicate higher pollution levels and greater health concerns, with any score over 100 considered unhealthy. [1, 2, 3]"
So…500 is, literally, as high as it goes.
My suspicion is that different reporting systems are using different scales or measurements. Whatever. It was completely shitty air quality in the Chicago area on Thursday night.
The odd thing about claims of record-breaking AQI values is that these are not the worst wildfires – there were bigger ones in 2023 and last year. But perhaps weather conditions were different.
The only time I’ve seen skies like I saw this Thursday was when Seaside Heights burnt while I was working only 3 miles away and during really bad fires in the Pine Barrens and I was pretty much driving through on the firebreak known as the Garden State Parkway.
So yeah, must be the weather.
BTW: Concerning the AQI scale, here it is:
The scale is divided into six internationally recognized categories, each with its own color code and health implication: [1, 2]
- 0 – 50 (Good / Green): Air quality is satisfactory. There are virtually no health risks. [1, 2]
- 51 – 100 (Moderate / Yellow): Air quality is generally acceptable. However, there may be mild symptoms for unusually sensitive individuals. [1, 2]
- 101 – 150 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups / Orange): Members of sensitive groups—such as children, older adults, and those with heart or lung disease—may experience health effects. [1]
- 151 – 200 (Unhealthy / Red): Everyone may begin to experience adverse health effects. Sensitive groups face higher risks. [1]
- 201 – 300 (Very Unhealthy / Purple): Triggers a health alert indicating severe health risks for the general population. [1]
- 301 – 500 (Hazardous / Maroon): Represents emergency conditions that pose immediate and serious health risks to everyone. [1, 2]
And we are Green today. Down to a 32 AQI.
Another interesting tidbit from NASA about the recent smoke event. There’s a time lapse animation vid of the smoke flow over a week. Both amazing and kinda scary.
Last week, we had the worst rating possible on the scale. We had a high pressure hot air dome capping the atmosphere so all that stuff was pressed to ground level, and a heat/humidity index of 108 degrees as a bonus. You could see the heavy haze and actually smell the smoke.