National & International

Birmingham Air Quality Forecast

Environmental Protection Agency AQI

Alabama Dept of Environmental Management Air Division

90.3 WBHM | Birmingham -- The purpose of the Air Quality Index, or AQI, is to help you understand what the Birmingham area's air quality means to your health. To make the AQI as easy to understand as possible, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management has divided the AQI scale into six categories, shown below:

AQI: 0-50 Air quality is considered satisfactory and air pollution poses little or no risk. As you can see, the air is crisp and the skyline unobscured.

AQI: 51-100 For some pollutants, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of individuals. A hazy downtown can be seen.

AQI: 101-150 Members of sensitive groups -- especially children and the elderly -- may experience health effects. The general public is not likely to be affected. The amount of smog in the air is very noticeable.

AQI: 151-200 Everyone may begin to experience health effects, and members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects. Smog isn't pretty and our button shows that.

AQI: 201-300 Triggers a health alert, meaning everyone may experience more serious health effects. You can find the buildings, but do you really want to go outside?

AQI: 300+ Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected. Our button shows the skyline is almost indistinguishable. Maybe it's time for that plastic sheeting and duct tape.

	Is air quality just a problem in the Summer?
	No. While in late spring and summer months, pollution in the form of ground level ozone is an air quality problem for metro Birmingham, in the fall and winter months, pollutants that don't react with heat take on a different sort of haze. Health officials say fine particulate matter, 2-and-a-half microns or less (PM 2.5) -- that's a fraction of the width of a strand of hair -- can be even more dangerous than ground level ozone, causing lung and breathing problems such as asthma, emphezyma and pneumonia. The source? Many of the those things that cause ground level ozone in the summer: coal-fired power plants -- many of which have reduced emissions in the past year, automobile exhausts and the burning of wood or leaves.
	How is Birmingham's Air Quality Index, or AQI, calculated?
	Air quality in the Birmingham area is measured by a network of monitors -- ten stations in Jefferson and Shelby Counties -- that record the concentrations of the major pollutants. These raw measurements are then converted into AQI values using standard formulas developed by the EPA. An AQI value is calculated for each of the individual pollutants in an area (ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide). Finally, the highest of the AQI values for the individual pollutants becomes the AQI value for that day.
	What groups are most at risk from ground level ozone and other pollutants?
	Roughly one out of every three people in the United States is at a higher risk of experiencing ozone-related health effects. Sensitive people include children and adults who are active outdoors, people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, and people with unusual sensitivity to ozone. One group at high risk from ozone exposure is active children because this group often spends a large part of the summer playing outdoors. However, people of all ages who are active outdoors are at increased risk because, during physical activity, ozone penetrates deeper into the parts of the lungs that are more vulnerable to injury. People with respiratory diseases that make their lungs more vulnerable to ozone may experience health effects earlier and at lower ozone levels than less sensitive individuals. Though scientists don't yet know why, some healthy people experience health effects at more moderate levels of outdoor exertion or at lower ozone levels than the average person.
	Just how dangerous is ground level ozone? Why is it such a health hazard?
	Let us count the ways! (Take a deep breath, this could take a while...) Ozone can irritate the respiratory system, causing coughing, throat irritation, and/or an uncomfortable sensation in the chest. Ozone can reduce lung function and make it more difficult to breathe deeply and vigorously. Breathing may become more rapid and shallow than normal. This reduction in lung function may limit a person's ability to engage in vigorous outdoor activities. Ozone can aggravate asthma. When ozone levels are high more people with asthma have attacks that require a doctor's attention or the use of additional medication. One reason this happens is that ozone makes people more sensitive to allergens, the most common triggers of asthma attacks. Ozone can increase susceptibility to respiratory infections. Ozone can inflame and damage the lining of the lungs. Within a few days, the damaged cells are shed and replaced, much like the skin peels after a sunburn. Animal studies suggest that if this type of inflammation happens repeatedly over a long time period (months, years, a lifetime), lung tissue may become permanently scarred, resulting in less lung elasticity, permanent loss of lung function, and a lower quality of life.

Ozone Recipe Described as a "sunburn inside your lungs," ozone reduces lung function. It's worse for people with respiratory problems. Read more about its effects on the Birmingham area and what's being done to clean it up.

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