North Carolina Air Quality Forecasts Return
Doesn’t seem like that time of year yet, but starting this week the North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources along with the National Weather Service will issue daily air quality forecasts for metropolitan areas across the state.
The daily forecasts focus on the air pollutant likely to reach the highest level on a given day, which could be ozone or particle pollution. The color-coded forecasts show whether air quality is likely to be good (green), moderate (yellow), unhealthy for sensitive groups (orange), or unhealthy (red). 
Forecasts will be based on two new air quality standards adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “We expect to see a substantial increase in Code Orange and Red days across the state,” says George Bridgers, the Department of Air Quality’s chief air quality forecaster. “That doesn’t mean that air quality is getting worse, but that the standards have become stricter to better protect public health and the environment.”
State and local air quality programs will issue air quality forecasts for ozone from mid-April through September in the Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Hickory, Triad, Triangle and Rocky Mount metropolitan areas. Forecasts will be issued for particle pollution year-round for all of the metro areas except Rocky Mount.
Ozone is North Carolina’s most widespread air quality problem, particularly during the warmer months. High ozone levels generally occur on hot sunny days with little wind, when pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react in the air.
Ozone, a highly reactive form of oxygen, can be unhealthy to breathe – particularly for children, people with respiratory problems or heart disease, and even healthy adults who work or exercise outdoors. Exposure to high ozone levels may cause previously healthy individuals to develop asthma over time. Ozone also causes millions of dollars in tree and crop damage each year. More than half of North Carolina’s residents live in counties where ozone levels periodically exceed the standard.
Get your daily air quality forecast right here!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader or email.
Subscribe to RSS
Good info, but what do you do with it? Do we go out and start buying bottled air?