Denver Area Air Quality & Allergies...

[Air]

US Air Quality Gradebook - Maps

From here, you can click on the states individually. There is a tiny bit of dark blue in Alaska.

I'm curious about the B grade area in West Texas and in Utah. Also a tiny bit in Montana.

I think this map was made up before all the construction of the last few years, so it might be worse today

Anyhow, nice to meet other people looking for good air quality. We have this is as a priority, because we have asthma in our family.

[rkb0305]

Thanks for those links. Yes, air quality was our #1 reason for moving.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Air

US Air Quality Gradebook - Maps

From here, you can click on the states individually. There is a tiny bit of dark blue in Alaska.

I'm curious about the B grade area in West Texas and in Utah. Also a tiny bit in Montana.

I think this map was made up before all the construction of the last few years, so it might be worse today

Anyhow, nice to meet other people looking for good air quality. We have this is as a priority, because we have asthma in our family.

Originally Posted by rkb0305

Thanks for those links. Yes, air quality was our #1 reason for moving.

Do you think a B grade is good or bad? Salt Lake City, UT has a terrible air-quality problem. B is a good grade for there, considering what I've seen. Anyone who is moving for air quality should not move to Denver, IMO.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by Air

US Air Quality Gradebook - Maps

From here, you can click on the states individually. There is a tiny bit of dark blue in Alaska.

I'm curious about the B grade area in West Texas and in Utah. Also a tiny bit in Montana.

I think this map was made up before all the construction of the last few years, so it might be worse today

Anyhow, nice to meet other people looking for good air quality. We have this is as a priority, because we have asthma in our family.

nice find! that map's great! at least for a more snapshot kind of quick look. i think that to get a better idea of some of the differences between some of the failing places, this map may not help much. i see red places on there that are probably far better than some other red places. the scorecard link (Scorecard Home) has some more detail to hone in on (given a zip code, e.g.).

thanks for that post.

ps - i see that that site (US Air Quality Gradebook - from CreativeMethods.com ) also has some more detail. and probably a bit easier to sort through. thanks again for that. incidentally, it looks like denver metro fails in every category but it's one "D"! (on the emissions gradesheet, for example) los angeles at least gets several D's! salt lake looks like a breath of fresh air compared to denver with it's gleaming "C" in one catagory. how dangerous is that category?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by hello-world

nice find! that map's great! at least for a more snapshot kind of quick look. i think that to get a better idea of some of the differences between some of the failing places, this map may not help much. i see red places on there that are probably far better than some other red places. the scorecard link (Scorecard Home) has some more detail to hone in on (given a zip code, e.g.).

thanks for that post.

ps - i see that that site (US Air Quality Gradebook - from CreativeMethods.com ) also has some more detail. and probably a bit easier to sort through. thanks again for that. incidentally, it looks like denver metro fails in every category category but it's one "D" (on the emissions gradesheet, for example)! los angeles at least gets several D's! salt lake looks downright refreshing compared to denver with some of it's gleaming C's.

I must wonder about some of these websites. "Gradebook" site says that air in COL SPGS is in the WORST 20% in the nation.

Gimme a break. We have wonderful air here compared to most places. I noticed that this site is put up by one of those non-profit orgs, and are happy to take donations to help them "fight the good fight" against (insert name of the evil-du-jour here). IMO, another case of dueling stats or people using a very finite set of criteria as to what they measure and report. This is from 2006:

American Lung Association (ALA) designated COL SPGS as having cleanest air in the nation, on 28 April 06, per The Gazette:
- Colorado Springs Gazette

Get the full report at: American Lung Association:*State of the Air 2006

The Springs tied with two areas in Florida (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL), (Port St. Lucie - Fort Pierce, FL)....

We used to live in one of the cities with dirty air (DC Metro area) and here is that list:
Cleveland - Akron - Elyria, OH
Los Angeles - Long Beach - Riverside, CA
New York City - Newark, NJ - Bridgeport, CT
Pittsburgh - New Castle, PA
Washington, DC - Baltimore, MD - Northern Virginia

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

I must wonder about some of these websites. "Gradebook" site says that air in COL SPGS is in the WORST 20% in the nation.

Gimme a break. We have wonderful air here compared to most places. I noticed that this site is put up by one of those non-profit orgs, and are happy to take donations to help them "fight the good fight" against (insert name of the evil-du-jour here). IMO, another case of dueling stats or people using a very finite set of criteria as to what they measure and report. This is from 2006:

American Lung Association (ALA) designated COL SPGS as having cleanest air in the nation, on 28 April 06, per The Gazette:
- Colorado Springs Gazette

Get the full report at: American Lung Association:*State of the Air 2006

The Springs tied with two areas in Florida (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL), (Port St. Lucie - Fort Pierce, FL)....

We used to live in one of the cities with dirty air (DC Metro area) and here is that list:
Cleveland - Akron - Elyria, OH
Los Angeles - Long Beach - Riverside, CA
New York City - Newark, NJ - Bridgeport, CT
Pittsburgh - New Castle, PA
Washington, DC - Baltimore, MD - Northern Virginia

yeah. i don't know. i think some of that data, at the least, is compiled by EPA. it seems possible that you're not seeing or smelling the bad stuff, and i'm not sure that ALA site mentions some of the things mentioned in the other tallies (it looks like the report you linked might focus on ozone and particulates, but i haven't looked at it all, so...). if you look at the constituents they measure in the other tallies, there are bunch of them (some that the ALA might not account for), including carbon monoxide, VOCs, NOx's and other things you might not notice (but could be an impact on health, or given proper conditions could react to form other things occasionally - smog, or other chemical wonders). some data might be a bit older than others (though i don't think any is older than about 2004 or 2002). my guesses, anyhow. i'd look forward to hearing that the air is wonderful, so if you have more contrary info, that'd be great.

[Dani2222]

can anyone tell me if Denver Colorado has the same air quality as Los Angeles, Orange County area in California?

[charygart]

Wow seems like all the areas where people are concentrated are always red (F). Wonder if they can be more detailed and grade all those F's. But IMO looking at that map, if you're moving for air quality, you need to not to move to an urban area. Seems like moving from an urban area to an urban area will onlly move you from an F area to another. I just got back from LA, when I got out from the airport, i had trouble breathing, and not to mention all the people smoking right outside the terminal. But I guess I kinda adapted a little bit after that, didn't have much problem after that. But I would certainly say that Denver is better than LA in terms of air quality.