Code Purple
From
Jackson Township
Sent
Thu, Jul 16 @ 8:50pm
Description
DEP has upgraded Friday’s forecast to a STATEWIDE Air Quality Alert Code Purple for fine particulate matter concentrations.
The Department is issuing a STATEWIDE CODE PURPLE Air Quality Alert (AQA) for Friday for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Wildfire smoke continues to impact Pennsylvania from Ontario, Canada and Minnesota, significantly deteriorating the air quality across Commonwealth. The flow continues from the northwest this Thursday afternoon, but is expected to eventually move out of the area on Saturday. Substantial concentrations of PM2.5 will be seen, including at least some locations seeing hourly values in the hazardous range. For the northeastern counties, there is a potential that PM2.5 levels are lower than Code Purple, but we are being proactively cautious as this relates to public health. Please note that the PM2.5 health-based standard is based on a 24‑hour average, where individual hours will have concentrations higher (and lower) than the forecast. We forecast PM2.5 using this 24‑hour framework to help the public understand when overall daily air quality may reach unhealthy levels to sensitive groups (USG – Code Orange), unhealthy for all (Code Red), very unhealthy (Code Purple) and hazardous (Code Maroon) and to guide actions that reduce exposure. DEP will monitor the ongoing smoke conditions.
This notification was posted by Jackson Township. Jackson Township is solely responsible for this notification and unless specifically indicated, no other community or individual utilizing Savvy Citizen is sponsoring, responsible for, or endorsing this notification.
