This multi-part blog series highlights several common sources of PM2.5 data with the intent not to endorse or dismiss any particular platform, but to suggest how to use these various tools together to assess your local air quality conditions, while recognizing their individual strengths and limitations. Find the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Weather App (Breezometer) People using Apple products are almost certainly familiar with the Weather app, which comes by default on the Apple operating system. This app utilizes air quality data from Breezo ..read more

This multi-part blog series highlights several common sources of PM2.5 data with the intent not to endorse or dismiss any particular platform, but to suggest how to use these various tools together to assess your local air quality conditions, while recognizing their individual strengths and limitations. Find the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. AirNow’s Fire and Smoke Map The Fire and Smoke Map is another EPA product, which was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service. This is another useful way to view current fires, smoke plumes, and PM2.5 AQI ..read more

This multi-part blog series highlights several common sources of PM2.5 data with the intent not to endorse or dismiss any particular platform, but to suggest how to use these various tools together to assess your local air quality conditions, while recognizing their individual strengths and limitations. Find the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2. AirNow / NowCast AirNow is an EPA platform that utilizes something called the NowCast AQI, which was “designed to be responsive to rapidly changing air quality conditions, such as during a wildfire.” The NowCast is a statistical model th ..read more

This multi-part blog series highlights several common sources of PM2.5 data with the intent not to endorse or dismiss any particular platform, but to suggest how to use these various tools together to assess your local air quality conditions, while recognizing their individual strengths and limitations. If you missed Part 1 of this blog series, you can find it here. Low-Cost Sensors (like PurpleAir, Clarity, etc.) NCDAQ’s air quality monitors have a big price tag – they can cost upwards of $100k to get up and running. Low-cost sensors, on the other hand, are a fraction of that p ..read more

In 2023, an incredible 45 million acres (18.5m hectares) of forest burned in Canada. And last summer in particular, when the large-scale weather pattern was just right (just… wrong?) smoke from these wildfires poured into the U.S. during multiple distinct days-long events. Within this time period, the U.S. saw some of the worst air quality in recent years in terms of particle pollution, otherwise known as fine particulate matter or PM2.5. Wildfire smoke is loaded with PM2.5 in the form of combustion materials, organic compounds, soot, and metals. With air quality having been affected on such a ..read more

This multi-part blog series highlights several common sources of PM2.5 data with the intent not to endorse or dismiss any particular platform, but to suggest how to use these various tools together to assess your local air quality conditions, while recognizing their individual strengths and limitations. Find the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Weather App (Breezometer) People using Apple products are almost certainly familiar with the Weather app, which comes by default on the Apple operating system. This app utilizes air quality data from Breezo ..read more

This multi-part blog series highlights several common sources of PM2.5 data with the intent not to endorse or dismiss any particular platform, but to suggest how to use these various tools together to assess your local air quality conditions, while recognizing their individual strengths and limitations. Find the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. AirNow’s Fire and Smoke Map The Fire and Smoke Map is another EPA product, which was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service. This is another useful way to view current fires, smoke plumes, and PM2.5 AQI ..read more

This multi-part blog series highlights several common sources of PM2.5 data with the intent not to endorse or dismiss any particular platform, but to suggest how to use these various tools together to assess your local air quality conditions, while recognizing their individual strengths and limitations. If you missed Part 1 of this blog series, you can find it here. Low-Cost Sensors (like PurpleAir, Clarity, etc.) NCDAQ’s air quality monitors have a big price tag – they can cost upwards of $100k to get up and running. Low-cost sensors, on the other hand, are a fraction of that p ..read more

In 2023, an incredible 45 million acres (18.5m hectares) of forest burned in Canada. And last summer in particular, when the large-scale weather pattern was just right (just… wrong?) smoke from these wildfires poured into the U.S. during multiple distinct days-long events. Within this time period, the U.S. saw some of the worst air quality in recent years in terms of particle pollution, otherwise known as fine particulate matter or PM2.5. Wildfire smoke is loaded with PM2.5 in the form of combustion materials, organic compounds, soot, and metals. With air quality having been affected on such a ..read more

In a previous blog post, we discussed some unique characteristics of winter air quality. Namely, how fine particulate readings are often higher overnight and early in the morning compared to the afternoon. On the night of January 21, 2024 we witnessed such an event, with elevated fine particulate values across the interior of the state and even reaching into the Code Red range for several hours in Cumberland County. Let’s discuss the meteorology behind why this occurred and how we handle communicating episodes like this to the public. All the Ingredients for Pollution Buildup An area of strong ..read more