Spokane Air Quality Index Unhealthy; Worse than Los Angeles (Seattle: second mortgage, place to live)

[jem22]

That some would like to reduce what is a serious health hazard to petty bickering over semantics comes as no surprise, but to be clear, the term "smog" had its' origins in England where someone decided to combine the words fog and SMOKE to describe pollution resulting from SMOKE from heating furnaces. Since then the term smog has been loosely used to reference air pollution from varied sources, and in fact has been used by local media to describe our air quality, or lack thereof.

Per dictionary.com:
"Smog: smoke or other atmospheric pollutants combined with fog in an unhealthy or irritating mixture."

Spokane’s air quality is currently an unhealthy stew of ozone, photochemical compounds and smoke. In other words, it’s SMOG. Apples to oranges? Hardly. Far from being rare this is becoming a disturbing and recurring Spokane phenomena.

Asthmatics in particular should be on guard. Speaking of, there is higher prevalence of asthma in Spokane County than King. Hmmm..... perhaps I should start a thread on this as well.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by jem22

That some would like to reduce what is a serious health hazard to petty bickering over semantics comes as no surprise, but to be clear, the term "smog" had its' origins in England where someone decided to combine the words fog and SMOKE to describe pollution resulting from SMOKE from heating furnaces. Since then the term smog has been loosely used to reference air pollution from varied sources, and in fact has been used by local media to describe our air quality, or lack thereof.

Per dictionary.com:
"Smog: smoke or other atmospheric pollutants combined with fog in an unhealthy or irritating mixture."

Spokane’s air quality is currently an unhealthy stew of ozone, photochemical compounds and smoke. In other words, it’s SMOG. Apples to oranges? Hardly. Far from being rare this is becoming a disturbing and recurring Spokane phenomena.

Asthmatics in particular should be on guard. Speaking of, there is higher prevalence of asthma in Spokane County than King. Hmmm..... perhaps I should start a thread on this as well.

Nope. There isn't any fog. So not smog.

It's smoke.

[jem22]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

Nope. There isn't any fog. So not smog.

It's smoke.

Do I have to qualify everything? Note to profiteers intent on luring people to Spokane: invest in a dictionary, or at least make some attempt at research before succumbing to knee-jerk, reactionary nonsense.

Per dictionary.com:

Fog: "any darkened state of the atmosphere, or the diffused substance that causes it."

[Boxkicker]

What is the point you are trying to make?

Do you think Spokane's air quality is comparable to China or LA the other 350 days of the year?

Obviously, you want to get a rise and troll...but that's always your M.O.....

So we just go with you until you get tired and find something else to complain about Spokane.

Not sure why you aren't on the Montana board commenting on the air quality in Seely Lake. It is classified as HAZARDOUS!!! They are warning people to leave due to the air quality.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by jem22

That some would like to reduce what is a serious health hazard to petty bickering over semantics comes as no surprise, but to be clear, the term "smog" had its' origins in England where someone decided to combine the words fog and SMOKE to describe pollution resulting from SMOKE from heating furnaces. Since then the term smog has been loosely used to reference air pollution from varied sources, and in fact has been used by local media to describe our air quality, or lack thereof.

Per dictionary.com:
"Smog: smoke or other atmospheric pollutants combined with fog in an unhealthy or irritating mixture."

Spokane’s air quality is currently an unhealthy stew of ozone, photochemical compounds and smoke. In other words, it’s SMOG. Apples to oranges? Hardly. Far from being rare this is becoming a disturbing and recurring Spokane phenomena.

Asthmatics in particular should be on guard. Speaking of, there is higher prevalence of asthma in Spokane County than King. Hmmm..... perhaps I should start a thread on this as well.

Yep. Spokane's air sucks. Jem22, I recommend that you move to Beijing ASAP.

[ShadoAngel]

Jem is 100% spot on about Spokane's air quality being abysmal right now. Everyone should stay inside and not do any exercising outdoors. However comparing it to Beijing on a long-term basis is very disingenuous. A week from now Spokane will be lovely with great air quality. Beijing will still be smog-infested.

The entire western United States is prone to being downwind of a forest fire. The west is dry and full of trees. Happens every year from Montana to California, from New Mexico to Alaska.

If anyone is interested in facts, you can check out Spokane Clean Air which has kept records back to the late 90s to document the Air Quality Index for the Spokane Region. The Air Quality Index rates anything over 100 as being 'unhealthy for sensitive groups'. Under 100 is either 'good' or 'moderate'. Since 1999, Spokane has had a grand total of 56 days above that 'moderate' rating. Almost half of them from bad forest fires in 2017 and 2015. For those that can't math, that's 56 days of bad air out of 6935. Or an average of just under 3 days a year.

It's absolutely unbelievable that Spokane is even habitable with stats like that.

[Boxkicker]

Hmmm....would you look at that....

The AQI for Spokane is now in the good category....

Someone barked up the wrong tree didn't they?????

[PS90]

Originally Posted by ShadoAngel

Jem is 100% spot on about Spokane's air quality being abysmal right now. Everyone should stay inside and not do any exercising outdoors. However comparing it to Beijing on a long-term basis is very disingenuous. A week from now Spokane will be lovely with great air quality. Beijing will still be smog-infested.

The entire western United States is prone to being downwind of a forest fire. The west is dry and full of trees. Happens every year from Montana to California, from New Mexico to Alaska.

If anyone is interested in facts, you can check out Spokane Clean Air which has kept records back to the late 90s to document the Air Quality Index for the Spokane Region. The Air Quality Index rates anything over 100 as being 'unhealthy for sensitive groups'. Under 100 is either 'good' or 'moderate'. Since 1999, Spokane has had a grand total of 56 days above that 'moderate' rating. Almost half of them from bad forest fires in 2017 and 2015. For those that can't math, that's 56 days of bad air out of 6935. Or an average of just under 3 days a year.

It's absolutely unbelievable that Spokane is even habitable with stats like that.

Clearly, you are going to profit by doing this research. Only a Realtor would cite actual data...

[ShadoAngel]

Yeah I definitely don't want jem tanking my sales. It's hard enough to run a massive real estate/tourism/hospitality business from 2000 miles away without jem's truth crusades and his pesky facts single-handedly dissuading the many tens of thousands of people that will read his comments from visiting the hell hole that is Spokane.

[Yeledaf]

What a beautiful day it was today. 75 degrees, sunshine, and no smoke. Now at evening there's that crispness that presages more of the same tomorrow.