Residents in Four US States Urged to Remain Indoors Amid Air Quality Concerns

Residents in four American states are facing a grave advisory to remain indoors due to dangerously polluted air conditions.

Monday morning saw air quality monitors from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issuing alerts across Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, and Oklahoma. These warnings indicated that the air quality in these regions had reached levels deemed ‘unhealthy’ for the entire population.

In Pennsylvania, the EPA’s AirNow system identified an alarmingly toxic air zone forming near the suburbs of Pittsburgh, approximately 10 miles south of the city center.

Real-time monitoring data showed a significant rise in PM2.5 levels. These are tiny particles, often containing toxic substances or heavy metals, small enough to infiltrate the lungs. Such particles can worsen respiratory conditions like asthma and increase the risk of heart attacks.

Meanwhile, in the southern states, an area spanning 110 miles in eastern Oklahoma has been marked as unhealthy by the EPA. Additionally, a zone stretching 127 miles around Columbus, Georgia, is experiencing severe air pollution this Monday morning.

The increased levels have been tied to recent wildfire smoke exacerbating a condition called stagnant air, where little to no wind and high atmospheric pressure trap pollution near ground level. 

Air quality levels are measured on a scale from 0 to 500: good (0–50) carries little risk, moderate (51–100) may affect sensitive individuals, unhealthy for sensitive groups (101–150) poses increased risk, and unhealthy (151–200) impacts everyone, limiting outdoor activity.

In Glassport, Pennsylvania, the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached 192, while readings in parts of Oklahoma, Georgia, and Alabama exceeded 150.

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A image of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania skyline (Stock Image)

To understand the impact of stagnant air on cities, it’s helpful to look at atmospheric pressure. Pressure is measured in millibars, with normal sea-level pressure being 1,013 millibars.

Anything between 1,015 and 1,020 millibars is considered a high pressure system, with strong pressure exceeding 1,030 millibars, especially in the winter.

In Glassport, air quality-tracking website IQAir revealed that pressure had reached 1,031 millibars Monday morning, causing sinking air from above that warms and compresses as it descends. 

Stagnant air means the air around you is barely moving, like it’s stuck under a lid, so pollution, smoke, car fumes, and other particles can’t blow away or mix higher up in the atmosphere, causing them to build up near the ground where we breathe.

While the AQI directly over Pittsburgh has remained at ‘moderate’ levels, that entire region of western Pennsylvania is stuck under a high pressure system trapping more pollutants than normal.

Near Columbus, a city with over 200,000 residents, smoke from multiple fires in both Georgia and Alabama is being carried north by the wind, increasing local pollutant levels.

The worst readings were seen near Eastaboga, Alabama, where IQAir reporting stations recorded an AQI of 170 and PM2.5 levels that were 16.6 times higher than the the World Health Organization’s recommended safe limit.

The EPA has warned that all Georgia residents between Lagrange and Fort Gaines are in hazard zone for high levels of PM2.5.

The EPA’s air quality detectors recorded unhealthy levels of PM2.5 over the Pittsburgh suburbs Monday morning

Unhealthy levels were also found in Georgia, Alabama, and Oklahoma for hundreds of miles due to local wildfires