{"id":245248,"date":"2026-07-16T21:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/245248\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T21:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:48:15","slug":"live-updates-code-purple-air-quality-alert-issued-statewide-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/245248\/","title":{"rendered":"LIVE UPDATES: Code Purple Air Quality alert issued statewide for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Wildfire smoke is creating unhealthy air quality, with conditions expected to get worse tonight and early Friday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">A Code Purple Air Quality Alert has been issued for Friday as conditions continue to deteriorate. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">This is the first time a statewide Code Purple has been issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Air quality will improve this weekend as rain showers move in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.airnow.gov\/?city=Pittsburgh&amp;state=PA&amp;country=USA\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.airnow.gov\/?city=Pittsburgh&amp;state=PA&amp;country=USA\">Click here to check the current air quality readings.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.airnow.gov\/trends\/?city=Pittsburgh&amp;state=PA&amp;country=USA\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.airnow.gov\/trends\/?city=Pittsburgh&amp;state=PA&amp;country=USA\">Click here to see the hours increases.<\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>LIVE UPDATES LISTED BELOW<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">UPDATE 5:20 p.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Channel 11\u2019s Nick Papantonis captured one of Pittsburgh\u2019s most iconic views, covered in wildfire smoke. Watch the video below to see it.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/d1hfln2sfez66z.cloudfront.net\/07-16-2026\/t_51927d5712044258833364a01ea98d1a_name_MicrosoftTe.jpeg\"  width=\"800\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-1htor29-0 jibCgM image-metadata\">Pittsburgh skyline blocked out by haze One of Pittsburgh&#8217;s most iconic views was blocked out by haze on Thursday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">UPDATE 4:45 p.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">The Allegheny County Health Department has issued a Code Maroon Air Quality Alert.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">During a Code Maroon Air Quality Alert, everyone is encouraged to avoid outdoor activities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Sensitive groups, including people with heart or lung disease, people with asthma, emphysema, or bronchitis, older adults, children and teens, are encouraged to keep their activity levels low indoors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">The warning could carry into tomorrow, officials say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">UPDATE 4:20 p.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">The City of Pittsburgh announced that city pools will close early because of the air quality conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Channel 11 spoke with the Pittsburgh International Airport about the haze. A spokesperson said there are no impacts on their operation at this time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/mobile-apps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Follow Channel 11 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpxi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPXI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wildfire smoke is creating unhealthy air quality, with conditions expected to get worse tonight and early Friday. A&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[139,859,73,75,74,420,860],"class_list":["post-245248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-news","tag-ott_news","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-video","tag-wpxi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}