Restricted Air Quality Again This Weekend - And Heat Advisory (Phoenix: allergies, living in)

[PhoenixAirConcerns]

For those more strongly affected by air quality issues, Phoenix has another air pollution warning this weekend. My children's respiratory afflictions have greater strength on days like these. It is recommended that adults, and especially children, limit outdoor activity during these warnings. The worst times of the day are after 12 p.m. Also, with temperatures reaching over 110 this weekend, it would be good to protect yourself from that as well.

Here is a news bulletin from the Arizona Republic on this weekend's advisory. There is high ozone, and burning is again banned on these days.

"Children and adults with respiratory problems should avoid outdoor activity after noon on both days, when ozone levels are highest. ADEQ also suggested the general public limit outdoor activity then."

Phoenix gets pollution warning for this weekend

[Howard Roark]

You better not go to Los Angeles! Fly into LAX on a fog-free day and you will see significantly worse air than Phoenix. I've seen smog in Phoenix as I drive down the hill on the 51 freeway. It's nothing compared to LA. The LA smog goes from Pasadena to Santa Monica. Also smoggy in the inland empire. Very bad air. And I don't watch LA news that much when I'm working in LA. They probably don't make any big deal on air advisories!

[PhoenixAirConcerns]

Hi Howard. I know what you mean. LA (and Fresno) is the only place in the country that has worse air than the Phoenix area. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rated the Phoenix area's air quality as "endangered," and 47th out of 50 cities, only ahead of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Fresno, CA. On December 31, 2008, the Arizona Republic released a story on the worrisome connection between the air quality and respiratory health in Phoenix area children. Arizona also has the 2nd highest asthma rate in the country.

[twiggy]

Duh, welcome to Phoenix, you can smell it when you get off the plane. Fresh air isn't our forte. lol
Heat makes it worse you know. Wear a mask when out........lol
It's always funny to me to see those people jogging outside here, they are doing more damage than good, deep breathing our air like that, it's silly. Exercise inside, or just light up and forget about it. he he

Here are a few links for the people who will argue that we really have a pollution problem:
Brown Cloud - Phoenix Air Pollution - Bad Air in Phoenix

Arizona - American Lung Association

City Mayors: The most polluted US cities

[zox]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAirConcerns

Hi Howard. I know what you mean. LA (and Fresno) is the only place in the country that has worse air than the Phoenix area. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rated the Phoenix area's air quality as "endangered," and 47th out of 50 cities, only ahead of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Fresno, CA. On December 31, 2008, the Arizona Republic released a story on the worrisome connection between the air quality and respiratory health in Phoenix area children. Arizona also has the 2nd highest asthma rate in the country.

Phoenix is not even ranked among the top 10 for Asthma according to these four sources. In the fourth source (bottom most link), Phoenix was ranked 45th. US 100 worst asthma cities in order of rank Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America - Information About Asthma, Allergies, Food Allergies and More! Worst Cities for People With Asthma Worst Asthma Cities in the U.S. - U.S. Asthma Cities Ranked The EPA is one organization to rank air quality studies. The American Lung Association is another group to do so. According to the American Lung Association's 2010 report, Phoenix is ranked 1st among cities with the highest year round particle pollution. It is not ranked among the top 10 in ozone or short term particle pollution. Tucson was ranked 6th and Flagstaff was ranked 9th among the cleanest cities in the country regarding short term particle pollution. Cleanest Cities - American Lung Association Interestingly enough, according to Forbes which quotes the same study from 2009, Phoenix wasn't even ranked among the top 25 for short term particle pollution or long term particle pollution. We were ranked 9th in ozone pollution and In Depth: Worst Cities For Year-Round Particle Pollution - 25. Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, Texas - Forbes.com I think it can be fairly concluded that Phoenix' air is less than desirable but it is a bit of stretch to categorically label Arizona in general as being one of the worst states in the country for poor air quality.

Originally Posted by twiggy

City Mayors: The most polluted US cities

Did you have a chance to look at that source? According to that link, Phoenix was not ranked among the top 10 most polluted cities for short term or long term particle pollution. It was ranked 9th in ozone pollution. You don't really smell ozone coming off a plane since it's odorless and colorless.

[twiggy]

LOL, well then it just stinks here. But you have to admit, we have a lot of orange days here compared to other states. That coupled with the dust sucks for people with breathing issues.

My point being, we can't be everything to everyone. Move here for sunshine, no shoveling, etc. But I wouldn't tout clean air as a reason to move to Phoenix, we've been fined repeatedly, and have 80 to 90 ozone warnings a year. At least 2 front page stories a year on our brown cloud. We can't be all things to all people, no city can.

Yes, Phoenix is polluted, and yes, there are better places to do your breathing. Like, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Idaho. But, IE, you will be shoveling.

[PhoenixAirConcerns]

Originally Posted by twiggy

Duh, welcome to Phoenix, you can smell it when you get off the plane. Fresh air isn't our forte. lol
Heat makes it worse you know. Wear a mask when out........lol
It's always funny to me to see those people jogging outside here, they are doing more damage than good, deep breathing our air like that, it's silly. Exercise inside, or just light up and forget about it. he he

Here are a few links for the people who will argue that we really have a pollution problem:
Brown Cloud - Phoenix Air Pollution - Bad Air in Phoenix

Arizona - American Lung Association

City Mayors: The most polluted US cities

A lot of information in that post, thanks twiggy. You are right, one can smell it when they get off the plane. Hopefully people make wise decisions so as not to damage their health, especially in developmental-stage children.

[zox]

Originally Posted by twiggy

LOL, well then it just stinks here. But you have to admit, we have a lot of orange days here compared to other states. That coupled with the dust sucks for people with breathing issues.

My point being, we can't be everything to everyone. Move here for sunshine, no shoveling, etc. But I wouldn't tout clean air as a reason to move to Phoenix, we've been fined repeatedly, and have 80 to 90 ozone warnings a year. At least 2 front page stories a year on our brown cloud. We can't be all things to all people, no city can.

Yes, Phoenix is polluted, and yes, there are better places to do your breathing. Like, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Idaho. But, IE, you will be shoveling.

If you compare Phoenix to most metropolitan cities of similar size, it has cleaner air according to the American Lung Association. Also, it's a misnomer to state Arizona as a whole has poor air quality because Tucson and Flagstaff are ranked among the cities with the cleanest air. The Phoenix metropolitan area is the only area in Arizona with poor air quality. Cities like Sedona, Sierra Vista, Prescott, and Show Low have clean air. Phoenix is the 12th largest metropolitan area and the 5th largest city in the country. Most major metropolitan areas and large cities are polluted. If you are concerned with fine air quality then you probably shouldn't live in a large city. One's perception of smell is subjective. I can think of at least a dozen comparable metropolitan areas that smell worse than Phoenix including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, Memphis, Oakland, Miami, and Newark. If I was living in Pittsburgh, I would probably consider moving to Phoenix for it's air quality among other things.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by zox

Phoenix is not even ranked among the top 10 for Asthma according to these four sources. In the fourth source (bottom most link), Phoenix was ranked 45th. US 100 worst asthma cities in order of rank Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America - Information About Asthma, Allergies, Food Allergies and More! Worst Cities for People With Asthma Worst Asthma Cities in the U.S. - U.S. Asthma Cities Ranked The EPA is one organization to rank air quality studies. The American Lung Association is another group to do so. According to the American Lung Association's 2010 report, Phoenix is ranked 1st among cities with the highest year round particle pollution. It is not ranked among the top 10 in ozone or short term particle pollution. Tucson was ranked 6th and Flagstaff was ranked 9th among the cleanest cities in the country regarding short term particle pollution. Cleanest Cities - American Lung Association Interestingly enough, according to Forbes which quotes the same study from 2009, Phoenix wasn't even ranked among the top 25 for short term particle pollution or long term particle pollution. We were ranked 9th in ozone pollution and In Depth: Worst Cities For Year-Round Particle Pollution - 25. Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, Texas - Forbes.com I think it can be fairly concluded that Phoenix' air is less than desirable but it is a bit of stretch to categorically label Arizona in general as being one of the worst states in the country for poor air quality. Did you have a chance to look at that source? According to that link, Phoenix was not ranked among the top 10 most polluted cities for short term or long term particle pollution. It was ranked 9th in ozone pollution. You don't really smell ozone coming off a plane since it's odorless and colorless.

I enjoy reading your posts because they are always supported by facts. Thanks for clearing this up.

[Soperman]

For someone about to move to the Phoenix area from Texas, how will air quality & all these no-burn bans affect my ability to use my smoker in the back yard? Will I not be able to smoke a brisket any time I want to?