Air Quality
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Current Conditions
8:00am EST -- December 21, 2024
Good
21
Primary Pollutant is Fine Particles
Active Pollutants
The common pollutants found in the air.
5-Day Forecast
The primary pollutant for the day is shown.
Values above 500 are considered Beyond the AQI. Follow recommendations for the Hazardous category.
Find out how to reduce your exposure to extremely high levels of particle pollution.
Good: AQI between 0 and 50 is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk.
Moderate: When the AQI is between 51-100, unusually sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.
USG (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups): When the AQI is between 101-150, members of sensitive groups may experience health effects.
Unhealthy: When the AQI is between 151-200, everyone may begin to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.
Very Unhealthy: Everyone may experience more serious health effects when the AQI is between 201-300.
Hazardous: AQI over 300 trigger health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.
How Does the Air Quality Index (AQI) Work?
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells you how clean or polluted your air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for you. It was created as an easy way to correlate levels of different pollutants to one scale; the higher the AQI value, the greater the health concern. For example, an AQI value of 50 represents good air quality with little potential to affect public health, while an AQI value over 300 represents hazardous air quality.
An AQI value of 100 generally corresponds to the national air quality standard for the pollutant, which is the level EPA has set to protect public health. AQI values below 100 are generally thought of as satisfactory. When AQI values are above 100, air quality is considered to be unhealthy-at first for certain sensitive groups of people, then for everyone as AQI values get higher. See the AQI legend above for complete category breakdown and descriptions.
What is Ozone?
Ozone is a colorless gas that can be good or bad, depending on where it is. Ozone in the stratosphere is good because it shields the earth from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Ozone at ground level, where we breathe, is bad because it can harm human health.
Ozone forms when two types of pollutants (VOCs and NOx) react in sunlight. These pollutants come from sources such as vehicles, industries, power plants, and products such as solvents and paints.
- Ozone in the air we breathe can cause serious health problems, including breathing difficulty, asthma attacks, lung damage, and early death.
- Ozone forms in the sun, usually on hot summer days. Ozone is worse in the afternoon and early evening, so plan outdoor activities for the morning.
What is Fine Particle Pollution?
Fine Particle pollution, (also known as "Fine Particles"), comes from many different types of sources. Fine particles (2.5 micrometers in diameter and smaller) include power plants, industrial processes, vehicle tailpipes, woodstoves, and wildfires. Coarse particles (between 2.5 and 10 micrometers) come from crushing and grinding operations, road dust, and some agricultural operations.
- Particle pollution can cause serious health problems – including asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes and early death.
- Particle pollution can be a problem at any time of the year, depending on where you live.
Source NYS Department of Environmental Conservation / Vaisala Xweather