{"id":245486,"date":"2026-07-17T03:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T03:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/245486\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T03:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T03:17:10","slug":"air-quality-worsening-code-purple-alert-in-effect-for-friday-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/245486\/","title":{"rendered":"Air quality worsening | Code purple alert in effect for Friday | Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the northern Minnesota and Ontario wildfires still ongoing and widely uncontained alongside a northwesterly wind, all of the area has been under a code red air quality alert from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today. The air quality index scale, where 0-12 is good, 12-35 is moderate, 35-55 is unhealthy for some, 55-150 is unhealthy for most, 150-250 is very unhealthy, and 250 or higher is hazardous, has been within the 100-200 range for much of the Lehigh Valley and areas farther south for much of Thursday. As of late however, we’ve seen higher numbers of 250-350+ work their way down from parts of the Poconos into the Lehigh Valley and I-78 corridor.<\/p>\n

\"Air<\/p>\n

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As the wind continues to blow in from the northwest, fine particles in the air will continue to make their way down across the heart of our region potentially leading to even worse air quality levels as we head into tonight. With the smoke mixing down to the ground, expect a continuation of smoky smelling air, limited visibility, and milky to orange-looking hazy skies from the overnight period into Friday. The Pennsylvania DEP currently has the whole state under a code purple air quality alert for Friday as a precaution, indicating high levels of PM 2.5, though particle levels may not reach the 2.5 level everywhere. Expect air quality indices to be on-par to slightly worse than that of Thursday as a result. There could be some temporary reduction in the poor air quality levels and thick smoke by midday Friday through the afternoon for the Lehigh Valley, Poconos, and northwestern New Jersey as our wind flow becomes more northerly in these spots. But by Friday night, expect air quality levels and thick smoke to worsen again as the wind direction shifts back to the northwest and west.<\/p>\n

\"Headlines<\/p>\n

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As we head into the first part of the weekend, we’ll see the wind direction shift and come more from the south and southwest, which should help push the smoke back to our north with time. While difficult to accurately predict what the AQI could be this far out, values still around the 100 mark could be possible on Saturday. With the arrival of a cold front, afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms will help to further clear out the lingering smoke, and help to improve conditions down at the ground. This means a clearer second half to the day Saturday, and a largely clear Sunday.<\/p>\n

During this time, be sure to continue monitoring air quality forecasts, as high levels of particulates can be unhealthy with prolonged exposure. Try to limit outdoor activity, especially if you’re sensitive to poor air quality levels, and exercise caution when going outdoors for extended periods of time. Some tips and tricks if you are sensitive to pollutants are to wear a N95 mask to filter particulate matter if you must be outdoors. It’s also best to limit strenuous activity if out, to use the “recirculate” mode in your car if traveling, and keep doors and windows closed as much as possible<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the northern Minnesota and Ontario wildfires still ongoing and widely uncontained alongside a northwesterly wind, all of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[55935,104972,88703,157,105078,20384,105079,60217,105077,128,130,129,88713],"class_list":["post-245486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-air-quality-index","tag-code-purple","tag-haze","tag-lehigh-valley","tag-n95-mask","tag-outdoor-activity","tag-particulate-matter","tag-pennsylvania-dep","tag-pm-2-5","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-wildfire-smoke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245486","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=245486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}