Air quality alerts has been issued for several counties in Pennsylvania, with one affecting Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties, and another affecting Allegheny County.
The state has certainly seen air quality alerts in the past — notably, in recent years, due to Canadian wildfires. But the cause behind current conditions may surprise you.
David Martin, meteorologist with the National Weather service in State College, explained that “a very strong temperature inversion near the ground” is to blame for our current alert.
The cold temperatures near the ground, Martin explained, “prevents the mixing of air above the ground” as the temperatures rise out of the unusually cold conditions we’ve had lately.
Since cold and hot air don’t mix well, Martin said, “haze, smoke, moisture, fog build up near the ground,” leaving anything in the air to be stuck where people might breathe.
“The state of Pennsylvania monitors air quality,” Martin said, measuring particulates in the air that might be harmful for people to inhale.
These particulates can range from pollen to ozone to smoke from wildfires. But often, the conditions are triggered by air pollution, such as from car exhaust.
And when the air won’t circulate, then “regardless of what they’re looking at, when certain levels reach a critical value, they issue air quality alerts,” Martin said.
The Air Quality Index includes the following color-coded levels:
Green: Air quality is satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk.Yellow: Air quality is acceptable. However, there may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.Orange: Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. The general public is less likely to be affected.Red: Some members of the general public may experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.Purple: Health alert: The risk of health effects is increased for everyone.Maroon: Health warning of emergency conditions: everyone is more likely to be affected.
The current air quality alert is a Code Orange, meaning that only people sensitive to such conditions need be concerned.
People with asthma or other respiratory conditions, heart conditions, or the very old and very young, should limit their exertion outside during such an alert.
And in good news for people with those conditions, the current alert is set to expire by Wednesday.