Air Quality Awareness Week, Thursday: What Are Air Quality Forecasts

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
500 AM EDT THU MAY 3 2007

...THIS IS AIR QUALITY AWARENESS WEEK...

THIS WEEK MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE OZONE SEASON FOR MANY AREAS IN THE UNITED STATES.

TODAY WE HIGHLIGHT THE TOOLS AVAILABLE TO HELP YOU GET AIR QUALITY INFORMATION.

OVER THE PAST DECADE...MORE STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES HAVE BEGUN AIR QUALITY FORECASTING FOR THEIR COMMUNITIES. TODAY ABOUT 300 CITIES NATIONWIDE ARE ISSUING AIR QUALITY FORECASTS BASED ON PREDICTED CONCENTRATIONS OF KNOWN POLLUTANTS SUCH AS OZONE AND PARTICLE POLLUTION.

FOR THOSE LOCALITIES FORECASTING AIR QUALITY... NEW NOAA FORECAST GUIDANCE IS IMPROVING FORECASTERS ABILITY TO PREDICT THE ONSET... SEVERITY... AND DURATION OF POOR AIR QUALITY. IN ADDITION.. NOAA PROVIDES COMPREHENSIVE AIR QUALITY PREDICTIONS ON WWW.WEATHER.GOV/AQ WITH HOUR BY HOUR INFORMATION FOR CITIES... SUBURBS...AND RURAL COMMUNITIES OVER THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. SIMILAR INFORMATION IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR WESTERN CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES AS EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTS ON WWW.WEATHER.GOV/AQ-EXPR.

FOR UP TO DATE AIR QUALITY INFORMATION... THE EPA ENVIROFLASH TOOL PROVIDES AIR QUALITY FORECASTS AND ACTION DAY NOTIFICATIONS FOR PARTICIPATING COMMUNITIES VIA EMAIL OR PAGER NOTIFICATION. ENVIROFLASH PROVIDES INSTANT INFORMATION THAT CAN BE CUSTOMIZED FOR EACH USERS NEEDS.

TOMORROW WE WILL LEARN ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE THE AIR CLEANER.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON AIR QUALITY AWARENESS WEEK...VISIT US ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT HTTP://WWW.AIRQUALITY.NOAA.GOV.

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