{"id":94192,"date":"2025-12-14T11:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T11:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/94192\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T11:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T11:39:10","slug":"thousands-urged-to-stay-inside-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/94192\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands Urged To Stay Inside in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of residents across California<\/a>\u2014including Portola, Sattley and Cromberg, and also parts of the Plumas National Forest and Sierra Valley\u2014have been advised to stay indoors due to high levels of fine particle matter pollution\u2014PM2.5\u2014in the atmosphere, according to the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> (EPA<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

A live map, produced by AirNow, which monitors and measures the air quality across the United States, recorded elevated levels of PM2.5 at 10 p.m. PST on December 13. Air quality levels reached up to 157 on the Air Quality Index (AQI)<\/a>\u2014a standardized scale which AirNow and the EPA use to categorize and communicate the quality of air\u2014which is considered \u201cunhealthy,\u201d due to increased amounts of PM2.5.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For context, according to the AQI, if AirNow records a score of between 0 and 50, it means the air quality is \u201cgood,\u201d and \u201cair pollution poses little or no risk\u201d to the public. A score of 151 to 200 is considered \u201cunhealthy,\u201d which means \u201csome members of the general public may experience health effects,\u201d and a score of 301 or higher means it\u2019s a \u201chealth warning of emergency conditions: everyone is more likely to be affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

AirNow is warning people in vulnerable groups in affected areas in California\u2014such as those with existing heart or lung conditions, young children, teens, and older adults\u2014to \u201ctake steps to reduce exposure\u201d to the polluted air, including avoiding strenuous outdoor activities and limiting time spent outside, by either moving outdoor activities inside or rescheduling them.<\/p>\n

All others in the affected areas have been advised to \u201cchoose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running)\u201d and limit the amount of time spent outdoors.<\/p>\n

PM2.5 are tiny inhalable particles of pollution that are around 2.5 micrometers or less\u2014smaller than a single strand of hair\u2014which can be transmitted into the air from a variety of sources, ranging from wildfires to vehicle emissions. The EPA warns that PM2.5 is one of the most dangerous forms of particle pollution, as it can be unknowingly inhaled, causing serious health problems if it enters the lungs or bloodstream, especially for vulnerable people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The EPA said: \u201cParticulate matter contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems. Some particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter can get deep into your lungs and some may even get into your bloodstream. Of these, particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, also known as fine particles or PM2.5, pose the greatest risk to health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those in affected areas should monitor air quality maps for updates, as conditions could change rapidly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of residents across California\u2014including Portola, Sattley and Cromberg, and also parts of the Plumas National Forest and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4817,37831,51778,7,9,8,9585,4818],"class_list":["post-94192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-air-quality","tag-air-quality-index","tag-aqi","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-environmental-protection-agency","tag-epa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}