'A Smokestorm Is Imminent': Spokane's Hazardous Air Now Worse Than Bejing and Delhi Combined
Source: Think Progress
By Joe Romm, Aug. 20, 2018, 1:37 pm.
Surrounded by wildfires, Washington state sees worst air quality in history.
As of Monday morning, Spokane, Washington’s air quality is worse than Beijing and Delhi combined.
Surrounded on three sides by warming-driven wildfires, Seattle is also experiencing its worst air quality on record, according to Cliff Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Washington University. On Sunday, Mass warned that “a smokestorm is imminent for western Washington.”
In Eastern Washington, the air is literally “hazardous.” At 7:15 a.m. local time Monday, Spokane’s Regional Health District tweeted out that “Spokane is waking to ‘hazardous’ or maroon category for air quality.” That means, “At this level, everyone should be staying indoors.”
The warning is based on PM2.5 levels, which measure the fine particulate matter (PM) smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, much of which is caused by combustion of fossil fuels. These particles are so tiny — 20 times smaller than the width of human hair — they can bypass the body’s normal defense mechanisms and cause grave harm...More...
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/a-smokestorm-is-imminent-spokanes-hazardous-air-now-worse-than-beijing-and-delhi-combined-ca4a46dd7f13/
Studies have found that PM2.5 concentrations are directly correlated to mortality levels from lung cancer and cardiopulmonary disease. Also troubling, recent studies link particulate matter directly to higher rates of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
In the air quality index (AQI) system used for warning the public (see below), 0 to 50 is considered a “good level,” but anything above 150 is “unhealthy” for all groups, and anything above 300 is “hazardous.”
As of mid-morning Pacific time, the AQI for Beijing is 81. The AQI for Delhi is 173. The AQI for Spokane is 306. The highest recorded level Monday in Washington State is over 400.
Smoke from the River Fire fills the sky as it burns through a canyon on July 31, 2018 in Lakeport, California.
= new reply since forum marked as read
the country is literally burning up. 
The fires are on the west side because of the flaming left.
Immigrant tech workers from India and China are turning America's air quality into India and China.
Sorry, just trying to think like a Trumpster.
But nothing to do with global warming and dry conditions or badly planned development 
According to the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque, N.M., smoke from wildfires burning over California, Oregon and Nevada moved southeastward into New Mexico on Sunday, which impacted air quality over much of central and western New Mexico.
East winds developing in the Rio Grande Valley late Sunday were expected to help force smoke westward out of the area but meteorologists expected smoke impacts to likely continue over western New Mexico this morning.
The National Weather Service on Sunday issued a wind advisory in effect until 6 a.m. today for the Middle Rio Grande Valley including metro Albuquerque, especially below Tijeras Canyon.
According to meteorologists, a gusty backdoor front was expected to surge through gaps in the Sandia and Manzano mountains during the overnight hours, producing strong east winds and bringing blowing dust into the area.
https://www.abqjournal.com/1210756/smoke-from-wildfires-prompts-health-alert-in-metro-abq.html
(downtown Albuquerque)
