How's the air where you are?
Asked by
janbb (
63257
)
June 7th, 2023
Here in the Northeast we’ve got hazy skies and smoke in the air from the Canadian and South Jersey fires. I’ve been out but it seems to be getting worse as the day goes on.
How are things where you are?
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Today In Red Deer, Alberta is ok. Weeks ago was bad. Is day by day.
Breathable. It was really bad 80 years ago.
We are hazy here from the Canadian fires according to the newsman. Must really be bad in Canada.
They keep telling on our news that New York is really bad right now due to the Canadian fires. Here, we’re have Air Quality Alert warnings. They’re NOT relating it to the fires, but they are strongly suggesting that the elderly stay inside if at all possible. I meant to cut some grass this afternoon, but it’s overcast like it might pour down rain any moment. Hadn’t even considered that it might be coming from the fires. Anyway, the Air Quality Alert is a good excuse to NOT cut grass (& I’m sticking to it). The one thing that I’ve learned is that the grass isn’t going anywhere until I cut it, so NO need to rush!!!
It was quite hazy this morning Air Quality index was 210 which is considered “Very unhealthy” The area near Corning is at 460 right now. They are in bad shape.
Here is an Air Quality Interactive Map by the EPA that shows what’s happening.
Here are the AQI definitions
0 – 50 Normal
50 -100 Moderate
101 – 150 Sensitive (Elderly and people with respiratory ailments will have trouble
151 – 200 Unhealthy
201 – 300 Very Unhealthy
301 – 500 Hazardous
The mess is heading straight for Jersey! Wear an N95 mask!
We’re in the green according to this
It’s 220 now, at 5 pm. I’m in southern NY right near CT.
It was hazy and smelly and smoky the past few days. Everyone is talking about it. A relative works in NYC (about an hour and a half south of here) and she sent photos of how yellow it is there today. Schools have cancelled outdoor activities and the news is saying limit your outdoor activities if you can. I feel bad for people who work outside, like landscapers and people doing construction, because if they don’t work, they usuallly don’t get paid.
It may rain Friday. I’m supposed to go to an outdoor concert in a park north of here Friday night with friends, and I’m wondering if it will be cancelled.
Fresh and clear, especially after that big downpour we got last night! (Boise, Idaho, USA.)
Cape Cod, tiny bit smoky, really not bad, it seems to be blowing out to sea.
Virginia felt like Los Angeles today.
Certainly hazy here, north of Boston. Not nearly as bad as some of the photos I’ve seen from NYC.
Northern Northern California.
Clear, smoke free. I am sure we’ll get the usual forest fire smoke all too soon.
Excellent. Today was clear until a storm rolled in. After the storm the steam was coming up off of the asphalt where I was parked, so the air was humid. It is mostly blue skies again now with a few fluffy white clouds and a slight breeze. The air smells like typical Florida summer air.
Not bad at all in the Plains…76. I read that it’s 353/hazardous in Manhattan.
Here in Silicon Valley it’s about as good as it gets, breezy with fair blue skies and wispy clouds; although it was incomparably blue and fresh and bright in those first days of Covid lockdown in 2020, when the freeways were empty but for people like me taking my husband to one medical appointment after another. It was amazing how fast the air cleared with no traffic: the smog dissipated, and you could hear birdcalls everywhere. I imagined they sounded surprised as well as jubilant.
But today’s photos of New York recall the fires in Northern Calilfornia of a few years ago, when our skies were that appalling shade of orange and we literally could not see across the street. I tried to prepare to evacuate, but I knew my husband, with his terminal COPD, was not going to make it anywhere; and I was prepared to stay here with him. It was a very scary time. There must be people all over southeastern Canada and the U.S. Northeast who feel as trapped and frightened as I did then.
I also have relatives in N.S., N.B., Ontario, upstate N.Y., Vermont, and Massachusetts, and I’m worried about all of them.
We are at 142. So not great but tomorrow its suppose to drop by half.
We have been between 151 and 300 over the last day or so. Currently 175.
A slight haze here in the central interior of B.C.
Fine in Missouri, no smoke.
My sister messaged me a few hours ago. She’s miserable in Manhattan. She put in her message where she keeps my grandmothers jewelry. She said she has developed a cough from the smoke. She’s had sensitive lungs for about 15 years so I’m not surprised she’s suffering. I saw some photos of NYC and it’s pretty bad.
Good clean air here in south Florida according to the Weather Channel site.
@JLeslie: My friend in Brooklyn says it’s awful too. Some of the photos of NYC look apocalyptic.
@cookieman I told her to get some oxygen. If she can’t from a doctor then to buy Boost from the drug store. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s hard to get oxygen right now. She said she is going to try to buy some plants, but that doesn’t help with the solid particles.
In 2017 when we had the massive fires in BC ,the smoke was so bad you could hardly see across the street,it was so thick you could taste it,and feel it on your skin.
@JLeslie,
> She put in her message where she keeps my grandmothers jewelry.
That’s worrisome. She must be scared. Are you thinking of asking her to come stay with you for a bit?
@LuckyGuy, are you near Corning? I passed through there a few years ago. Nice part of the country. Very bad numbers, though, right now. I hope you are safe.
It’s supposed to start getting better Thursday which is good. By Friday it’s supposed to be still smoky but about half what it was Wednesday. @JLeslie tell your sister to sit tight and within a day or a day and a half, it will be better.
If you live where the smoke was dense, change your air conditioning filters once it clears. You might need to change car air filters too.
@Jeruba She is always welcome to come stay with me; I tell her all the time to come stay with me for a month or two. The situation is worrisome. I hope she is ok, she lives alone. The last several years she has been in the frame of mind of wanting to move out of NYC so this probably isn’t helping her mental state.
@jca2 I saw last night that the air was clearing a little. I think you are right that it should start getting better soon. My sister will probably not feel well for a while even after the air clears. Makes me wonder if there has been any serious harm or deaths from the smoke. Amazing how far the smoke traveled. I guess the winds were just right.
It is 6 am here. The Rochester AQI reading for particulates is 61. Noticable but not bad.
The big nasty blob has moved south east Toward @janbb et. al.
Map of Air Quality When you use the map be sure to click the ‘Monitors’ box in the upper left and then select the pollutant you want to check. It will place hourly readings on the map. (This link is the same as above. I just included it again for ease of use.)
@LuckyGuy Thanks for that map. Pretty bad! I just realized looking at you link that my parents in the DC area are getting hit with some of too. Is that map in real time? I didn’t see the time stamp.
@JLeslie Each reporting station updates independently. .Most of them do it on the hour. The map updates hourly. Time stamp is in the lower right corner.
Yikes, @LuckyGuy , I just looked at your map, I’m driving from next to nothing to above 170 this morning. Goody.
Thursday morning in the DC area… The new media report a 276 AQI, code purple, and “very unsafe.” I just stepped outside and could smell and taste smoke.
Be safe you all. Get your covid masks back out. I heard that the bad air quality is like smoking a pack of cigarettes.
I’m using www.airnow.gov and it’s 169 right now, where I live, a little after 10 in the morning Thursday. Better than yesterday but let’s see how it is as the day goes on.
@jca2 Someone sent that site to me and checking it just now we’re at 196.
@janbb I like that site better because I think it’s easier to use.
Stay safe, jellies.
We’d use airnow.gov and purpleair.com if they have enough local sensors. Helpful to see which locations had good air filters if you need a reprieve. (Our public library was incredibly helpful during fires for people with older homes.)
I could feel it in my eyes and throat as soon as I crossed into CT from RI. In SW CT now, it’s definitely pretty bad, eyes, sinuses, throat, ugh. They say it’s better than yesterday, but there’s a lot of saline and honey tea in my future
Today’s San Jose Mercury (print edition) has the front-page headline: “Bay Area Feels East Coast Pain.” There’s a photo of New York’s orange haze alongside our orange haze of 2020. Ironically, that dire smoke experience is one of the big things that made me think seriously about moving back to New England.
108 in my area of Missouri today. Unhealthy for sensitive groups.
I tried the airnow website. It says it’s 40 in my zipcode.
~Check out the map for Rochester NY right now 6:00 PM Thursday. Apparently my super home filtration system is working.
We have the All Clear this morning, yay.
I think some of the smoke might have made it’s way down in FL now. Airnow says 58 where I live this morning. Doesn’t look bad outside though. Maybe we get to the 50’s all the time and I don’t know it. Nothing compared to what some of you experienced. I’m glad it’s much better in the Northeast, hopefully better in Canada too.
@JLeslie has your sister’s anxiety about the air quality lessened now that things are better?
Airnow has my zip code at 31 which is their best rating, good.
90—15 miles to the North and 71—twenty miles to the Southwest
No one who has air issues has mentioned masks in last couple of days. I’m wondering if that could be helpful for those folks is the poor-air areas.
@SnipSnip Most of the people in my area who went out on Wednesday – that worst air day – were wearing masks. N-95 or KN-95s were suggested.
@SnipSnip Most of the people I know in NYC were also masked up on Wed and Thu
Where I live, it’s 28 today, Saturday. Such a perfect day, breeze blowing in from the lake, bright and sunny and dry.
@jca2 My sister said it’s better now.
In a valley that’s about 15 miles NW of LA, it’s now 73: 5 PM, 6/10.
Today it is 15 on airnow.gov
Here it’s about 157 today. There’s no smell like there was three weeks ago, and the sky is not yellow like three weeks ago, but it looks hazy.
Ours is pretty yellow, here. Blecch. Itchy eyes, a little cough.
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