From purpleair.com: Eastern Pennsylvania has MUCH worse air quality than Western Pennsylvania tonight.Inert_Uncle_858 t1_j1xusom wrote
What does this even mean?
When I think air quality I think Smog, but I haven't seen smog in my entire life and I've lived in SEPA my whole life.
E_Pluribus_Omnom t1_j1xvt4r wrote
It's a measurement based on these 5 major pollutants; ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide.
Philadelphia definitely has visible smog.
Wuz314159 t1_j1ylqrh wrote
CO & NO2 are high right now as per Windy. Particulates aren't too good either.
LostInSpace9 t1_j229dc2 wrote
Crazy how visible it is when flying in/out of PHL
Joran_Dax t1_j1xv8nk wrote
It can also be affected by natural disasters. I remember when the forest fires in the Northwest became so bad that the smoke drifted cross country and was affecting air quality on the east coast.
Extreme_Qwerty OP t1_j1xvzux wrote
Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) commonly comes from industrial sites, car exhaust and chemical reactions in the atmosphere. The particles can lodge in the lungs and bloodstream, causing respiratory complications.
During winter, when air is warmer in the atmosphere than at the surface, temperature inversions can occur.
An inversion happens when the warmer air acts like a lid above the cooler air underneath, preventing pollutants from rising and dispersing, trapping them at breathing level.
Inversions are strongest in the winter months when pollution from vehicle exhaust, industrial sites and wood burning can fester near the ground, leading to poor air quality.
sintactacle t1_j1z1rmo wrote
>temperature inversions
Bingo! and the most famous inversion event happened in Western Pennsylvania south of Pittsburgh in Denora.
Inversions are definitely a thing in the Southeast of the state. I used to commute through Lancaster and Lebanon counties along 322 and on still winter days, you would see the smoke from farms burning trash rise up undisturbed vertically to a point and then spread out horizontally as if it was trapped by a giant pane of glass.
Inert_Uncle_858 t1_j1xvuah wrote
But like, is it supposed to affect us somehow? Make it hard to breathe? Even during the forest fires I never was able to tell. During that time I was located in Berks and Chester counties. I now live in Northern Chester county not far from Pottstown. Never experienced anything I would call poor air quality, outside of an enclosed space with machinery or paint booth.
Joran_Dax t1_j1xzux8 wrote
In the short term, most healthy people won't even notice the air quality, unless it becomes extremely bad. However, for those individuals who have health conditions that affect breathing, such as asthma, emphysema, etc., it's more problematic and can cause acute respiratory distress. Long-term exposure to high levels of air pollutants, even for healthy people, can lead to respiratory problems, similar, as I understand it, to smokers.
TOW2Bguy t1_j1yivgd wrote
In the case of open-air trash fires 🔥, commonly called burn pits in the military, or in rural areas that still allow burn barrels, damaged lungs can happen over the course of just a few months.
Wuz314159 t1_j1yljot wrote
You haven't seen smog because there is constant smog these days.
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