We wanted to remind you when you’re
checking air quality conditions to make sure you’re checking the map on this
site, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Air Quality Index* or EPA’s AirNow . Those sites all use data from DEQ air quality monitors or in the case of Lane County from the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency. Please
also bookmark the sites under the Air Quality Now and Air Quality Forecasting
tabs above to ensure you are looking at credible sites.
Why are we providing this reminder? Because
at least a few of you have noticed some pretty alarming graphics circulating
and a website that shows hazardous or very unhealthy air quality levels across
wide areas. The ones we saw put air quality levels in Medford far higher than
they have been this season and we can see why they would give someone pause.
While we had some very unhealthy and even
hazardous air quality readings this week in the Rogue Valley, those graphics
didn’t include accurate air quality data from DEQ.
We’re not sure how widespread this
inaccurate information has been circulated, but we know they have worried at
least a few of our readers and a number of folks have reached out to DEQ. We
wanted to make sure you knew that misleading information was out there.
Red flags to look for: the primary
pollutant in wildfire smoke is particulate matter, not ozone. DEQ and EPA are
.gov sites, while other sites tend to have .org or .com. (Please consider this
multi-agency smoke blog, which is a .com, an exception.)
*DEQ’s Air Quality Index is also on your
smart phone. Just search for OregonAir in your app store. The vendor is
EnviTech so you will see their name too. A screenshot is below.
