air quality in pittsburgh - anything new being done to help? (Fox Chapel: chapel, house)

[greg42]

Today is an air quality action day, code orange for ozone.

Really lame too, as the normal high temp should not even be 80 yet, and instead today it will be mid-90s and humid, thus creating the conditions for the code orange. If this keeps up we're not going to have any real in-between weather at all. It's like we skipped from March to July.

[gg]

Originally Posted by greg42

Today is an air quality action day, code orange for ozone.

Really lame too, as the normal high temp should not even be 80 yet, and instead today it will be mid-90s and humid, thus creating the conditions for the code orange. If this keeps up we're not going to have any real in-between weather at all. It's like we skipped from March to July.

I hate when that happens. We had rain about everyday of May and now we are into July/August weather. Not a big fan of mid 90's weather.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

There are other monitors that are rating air quality as very poor several times a year. I agree with everything you stated, but just wanted to point out the Liberty monitor isn't the only one that has poor readings for air quality.

Correct. Holding aside Liberty-Clairton, we now have fairly typical air quality for a U.S. metro of our size--but that doesn't mean we always good air quality, and we can do better.

[SteelCityRising]

I'm really hoping this weather pattern over the past six months is atypical for Pittsburgh. I'm still awaiting Spring's arrival, and it's nearly mid-June. I'm already sweating like a hog in my apartment at 7:35 AM. I want to go running today on my day off, but how will I be able to cool off when I return? Why aren't the city pools open yet? Why aren't any cooling centers available? It seems like the only way to escape my apartment's heat, which will probably be at around 100 degrees by late-afternoon, will be for me to see if I can sleep in the air-conditioned living room of my better half tonight. (Sigh).

[gg]

Pittsburgh is one of the worst for short term particle pollution. What is short term particle pollution?

It is the dirty, smoky part of that stream of exhaust is made of particle pollution. Overwhelming evidence shows that particle pollution—like that coming from that exhaust smoke—can kill. Particle pollution can increase the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and asthma attacks and can interfere with the growth and work of the lungs.

People get all upset about my anti SUV/Giant truck campaign, but what they don't understand is, I have read too much information in our region about pollution and I have strong feelings about all the giant vehicles people drive for NO reason. People should read more and act to help our region get rid of the very poor rating for particle pollution. Will anyone listen or even care what I am writing? I doubt it, but at least I am saying something about it in hopes ONE person might actually say, hey I am going to walk to get groceries today or maybe not drive as much or maybe trade in that huge top heavy brick SUV for something more sensible. Maybe one person!

[BrianTH]

Gasoline-powered SUVs aren't really a major contributor to fine particulate pollution. In fact less than 3% of that form of pollution comes from onroad gasoline-powered sources--90% comes from stationary sources or non-road mobile sources (planes, trains, boats, construction vehicles, and such), and most of the 10% from onroad sources is from diesel vehicles:

EPA - Mobile Source Emissions - Particulate Matter (http://www.epa.gov/oms/invntory/overview/pollutants/pm.htm - broken link)

So SUVs are not why Pittsburgh ranks relatively poorly in particulate pollution.

Concentrated ground-level ozone, however, is a different matter: there gasoline-powered personal vehicles can be a major contributor. I don't think we have an unusual amount of SUVs or vehicle emissions in general, but just a normal amount of vehicle emissions plus our topography and road patterns can lead to some serious ozone problems.

[Mugatu]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I'm really hoping this weather pattern over the past six months is atypical for Pittsburgh. I'm still awaiting Spring's arrival, and it's nearly mid-June. I'm already sweating like a hog in my apartment at 7:35 AM. I want to go running today on my day off, but how will I be able to cool off when I return? Why aren't the city pools open yet? Why aren't any cooling centers available? It seems like the only way to escape my apartment's heat, which will probably be at around 100 degrees by late-afternoon, will be for me to see if I can sleep in the air-conditioned living room of my better half tonight. (Sigh).

It's atypical for the whole country. Did you see that Minneapolis hit 103 yesterday? And someone died of heat exhaustion in the Chicago Marathon last weekend. It's been a very extreme spring for weather this year, quite abnormal. It's not just Pittsburgh. We've actually had it better than most so far.

Why not go to Lowes and get yourself a window a/c or portable a/c? I pretty much need a/c if the temp is above 80, I don't know how people live without it at all.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Mugatu

Why not go to Lowes and get yourself a window a/c or portable a/c? I pretty much need a/c if the temp is above 80, I don't know how people live without it at all.

It is interesting when I was a kid growing up in this region, A/C wasn't all that common. Today it is a must in our area. Amazing the climate change happening so fast. It really is something to live in a generation that you can actually notice a difference in one's lifetime.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I hate when that happens. We had rain about everyday of May and now we are into July/August weather. Not a big fan of mid 90's weather.

See, this is the thing that surprises me about Pittsburgh having bad air quality. You guys have so much rain, you'd think that your air would be very clean.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Caladium

See, this is the thing that surprises me about Pittsburgh having bad air quality. You guys have so much rain, you'd think that your air would be very clean.

It may well have been worse if not for the rain.