Placer County Air Quality



Above: Skyridge Pharmacy clerk Angela Harnar demonstrates an N-95 NIOSH respirator mask Wednesday afternoon. (photo: Ben Furtado/Auburn Journal)


One benefit of knowing something about the jungle of air quality data, and knowing Bruce Warren, is getting quoted in the paper! Ha! Funny!

Nevertheless, the bad air is no joke for asthmatics, or the public in general. Friend R. told me last night he had to use his inhaler four times this week, when he is accustomed to using it only once a year. That's not funny; that's sad:

“This summer appears to be the worst in at least 11 years,” said meteorologist Marc Valdez of Sacramento, who explained that the particulate matter (PM-2.5) readings go back just 11 years, and are averaged over a 24-hour period.

Valdez researched data from the California Environmental Protection Agency and Spare the Air records in order to find the highest AQI on record for Placer and Nevada counties. His data is limited to measurements taken from sites in Roseville and Grass Valley.

The AQI, which can be found on the Web site SpareTheAir.com, should not be confused with the particulate matter (PM) reading, which measures dust particles and airborne matter resulting from forest fires. AQI readings measure pollution levels resulting from ozone contamination, but now these readings add particulate matter into the mix.

“This AQI statistic is quite annoying, because it combines ozone with particulate matter,” Valdez said. “The air-quality managers wanted one number to report to the public instead of two, but now we have numbers whose meaning is rather nebulous.”