Poor air quality leads to cancellation of Pittsburgh’s America’s Mile event
P3R announced that the 2026 America’s Mile in-person event scheduled for Friday has been canceled due to poor air quality
That wildfire smoke impacting all of our senses and unfortunately it’s going to get worse before it gets better today, yet another severe weather alert day for that dangerous air quality. You can probably sense it just as you’re waking up this morning, even tasting it as we get the day started. Another alert day tomorrow as we are tracking heavy rain and storms. Good news that pushes out the smoke. Bad news we’re gonna be watching for some strong winds and even the potential for some heavy downpours. Things will improve though by Sunday, by far the pick day of the weekend. Got to focus on that smoke that. Continues to thicken and blanket Western Pennsylvania as we go throughout the day as you saw with some of Lily’s traffic cameras. Think about it this time of the morning sky starting to brighten up *** little bit as the sun is rising. That is not going to be the case today as *** lot of that smoke is gonna be blocking out the sun. Just another reason why air quality is going to be so poor because it fills up the entire column of the atmosphere. But look at what happens late tonight through the day tomorrow. The smoke vanishes, gets washed out, but again, we go to our alert day tomorrow for storm chances for the. Time being cold purple air quality alert for everyone across Western Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth even also back through parts of Ohio and West Virginia as air quality is going to be very unhealthy for everyone. Yesterday, *** couple of sensors in Allegheny County did get into that hazardous point, and we couldn’t even see that number happen once again today. So we certainly will be monitoring air quality as this heavy smoke continues to hang in the air. 86 today as we’re dealing with that wildfire smoke throughout the afternoon, severe weather. Alert day for your Saturday with rain and even some stronger thunderstorms during the afternoon. We’ll look at the timing here in just *** second. Clearing skies, humidity will drop 81 on Sunday. Monday doesn’t look too bad as we tap back into some of that summer heat and humidity that will lead to *** rain chance on Tuesday. But once that system gets out of here, things look great second half of next week as we’ll take *** break for the summer heat and humidity with highs just in the 70s. OK, so the smoke today and the storms tomorrow as you’re waking up Saturday morning. Things should be OK. *** noticeably different look to the skies, not going to be milky or hazy, but instead, eventually we’ll be seeing more clouds filling our skies. Could see some of those scattered downpours and even some thunderstorms as early as noontime. Now if we happen to get *** few more storms early in the day, that could cut back our severe potential tomorrow afternoon, but still, future cast. This line of storms will be dropping south as we go through the late afternoon, early parts of the evening on Saturday. That line looks to approach Pittsburgh between about 7 and 8 o’clock along for the ride. Heavy, strong, damaging winds will be our primary concern, but also some of the heavy rain could lead to flooding concerns. One difference from yesterday. We’ll see *** slightly higher risk for hail and even *** tornado. That risk is low, but not zero, as we all are going to be included in that area-wide scattered risk for severe storms. For the time being, you can just see the smoke over downtown Pittsburgh that is going to block out the sun today, holding our temperatures back into the mid to upper 70s, but obviously air quality *** huge concern on the severe weather alert day.
Poor air quality leads to cancellation of Pittsburgh’s America’s Mile event
P3R announced that the 2026 America’s Mile in-person event scheduled for Friday has been canceled due to poor air quality
Updated: 11:02 AM EDT Jul 17, 2026
P3R announced Friday morning that, due to Pittsburgh’s Air Quality Index levels remaining at unhealthy and hazardous levels, Friday night’s 2026 America’s Mile in-person event has been canceled.P3R said the decision was made after closely monitoring conditions and consulting with their medical partners at UPMC.The organization said those consultations led them to determine that the conditions would not allow for a safe environment for participants, volunteers, spectators and staff.”We are deeply disappointed to make this decision, but the health and safety of everyone involved will always be our top priority,” P3R said in a statement.P3R said registered participants will receive additional information via email.The 2026 In-Person America’s Mile event is one of dozens of closings and cancellations due to the air quality in the Pittsburgh area.A complete list can be found here.
PITTSBURGH —
P3R announced Friday morning that, due to Pittsburgh’s Air Quality Index levels remaining at unhealthy and hazardous levels, Friday night’s 2026 America’s Mile in-person event has been canceled.
P3R said the decision was made after closely monitoring conditions and consulting with their medical partners at UPMC.
The organization said those consultations led them to determine that the conditions would not allow for a safe environment for participants, volunteers, spectators and staff.
“We are deeply disappointed to make this decision, but the health and safety of everyone involved will always be our top priority,” P3R said in a statement.
P3R said registered participants will receive additional information via email.
The 2026 In-Person America’s Mile event is one of dozens of closings and cancellations due to the air quality in the Pittsburgh area.
A complete list can be found here.