You can see the air. You can smell it. You have no choice but to breathe it.
The DEQ website shows Medford's air to be "Hazardous" at 317. A user can compare us with other places around the state by punching in zip codes.
The EPA website shows a higher number, 468. This is measured from a residential street above the Medford city center, which has approximately the same hazard level, in the 460 range. Another sensor, at elevation 2,000 feet, has a lower reading at this moment 160--merely "unhealthy," although all morning that monitoring station showed a 460. Maybe it got a whiff of better air for a moment.
Local readers do not need an explanation about what air quality this bad feels like. Go outside a moment. Out of town readers can liken it to being immediately downwind of a campfire. Ones eyes sting, it hurts to breathe, and one's instinct is to turn away immediately, except that here there is no place to turn.
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2 comments:
The DEQ site with the gauge seems a little cheesey. The EPA site seems inconsistent: 323 on Hillcrest, but 155 on Torey Pines. Look for Air Visual in the App Store. It gives you a reading for your specific location based on GPS.
Peter, I appreciate the info here in AZ - so worrisome.
Les Bush
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