TCEQ Statewide Hourly Wind Speed in miles per hour for Today
TCEQ Statewide Hourly Resultant Wind Direction in degrees for Today
What's New?
|
Air Quality Health Alerts
Be Alert!
Although you may not see it, ozone can irritate lungs and make breathing difficult.
Look for this picture, or of the like, on the
"S.A. Express News" front page or the
AACOG
home page for Health Alert information.
|
Enroll in a free notification service!
Air Quality Counts
San Antonio's biggest air pollution concern is ground-level
ozone. The American Lung Association estimates that over 40,000 children
and 70,000 adults in Bexar County alone suffer from breathing difficulties
that make them especially susceptible to health damage from ozone pollution.
"When you can't breathe, nothing else matters."
®
American Lung Association
(ALA)
Forecasting
Bad Air Quality
Ozone pollution occurs mostly during hot summer days with
little or no wind. Forecasters can predict when the ozone level
is expected to exceed standards for healthy air. If unhealthy ozone
levels are predicted, an "Air Quality Health Alert" is announced
to the media and public for the following day so that people can
take steps to protect their health and help to reduce the pollution
emissions that eventually become ozone.
The Air Quality
Index is an index for forecasting and reporting daily air quality.
The EPA gathers the forecasts for every city in the nation. The AQI tells
you how clean or polluted your air will be, and warns of any associated
health concerns you should be aware of.
The AQI
is being used across the nation by television, newspaper, websites (i.e.,
http://www.epa.gov/airnow), and radio.
The AQI
scale runs from 0 to 500. The higher the AQI value, the greater the
level of air pollution and the greater the health danger.
To make the AQI as easy to understand as possible, EPA has
divided the AQI scale into six categories.
Each category corresponds to a different level of health
concern.
Here are the six levels of health concern and what they mean:
Good
0-50
|
The AQI value for your community is between 0 and 50.
Air
quality is considered satisfactory and air pollution poses little or
no risk.
|
Moderate
51-100
|
The AQI for your community is between 51 and 100.
Air
quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate
health concern for a very small number of individuals. For example,
people who are unusually sensitive to ozone may experience respiratory
symptoms.
|
Unhealthy for sensitive groups
101-150
|
The AQI for your community is between 101 and 150.
Certain
groups of people are particularly sensitive to the harmful effects
of certain air pollutants. For example, children and adults who are
active outdoors and people with respiratory disease are at greater
risk from exposure to ozone pollution. Note:
When the AQI is forecast to be unhealthy for sensitive groups, an Air Quality Health Alert
will be issued.
|
Unhealthy
151-200
|
AQI values are between 151 and 200.
Everyone
may begin to experience health effects. Members of sensitive groups
may experience more serious health effects.
|
Very Unhealthy
201-300
|
AQI values are between 201 and 300.
This
triggers a broad-scale alert, meaning everyone may experience more
serious health effects.
|
Hazardous
>300
|
AQI values are over 300.
This
triggers health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population
is more likely to be affected.
|
|
Source:
http://www.airnow.gov/ |
The Air Quality Health Alert notification program is moving with the times. When AACOG receives a forecast of high pollution levels, it issues an Air Quality Health Alert to all local media entities and over 300 local organizations via fax, email, PDAs, etc. Air Quality Health Alerts are now frequently announced with the weather during the morning and evening television network news, on most local radio stations, and in the San Antonio Express-News and
the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. You can also find the Air Quality Index on the weather page of the Express-News.
Want to be added
to the Air Quality Health Alert notification list?
To receive Air Quality Health Alerts via email or fax, contact Brenda
Williams at (210) 362-5246 or
bwilliams@aacog.com and specify your preference.
For more information about AACOG's Air
Quality Program contact:
Peter Bella, AACOG Natural Resources Director
8700 Tesoro Drive, Suite 700
San Antonio, TX 78217
Phone: (210) 362-5249
Fax: (210) 225-5937
E-Mail: pbella@aacog.com |
