Pittsburgh Air Quality: When It Might Improve

PITTSBURGH, PA — Ongoing smoke from Canadian wildfires has prompted the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to issue a Code Orange air quality alert for all of southwestern Pennsylvania for Friday.

But today likely will be the last Code Orange day for the immediate future.

As of Friday morning, the region's air quality index was 122, according to AirNow. That puts the the region in the middle of the index's orange category, which ranges from 100 to 150. The Environmental Protection Agency developed the index to make information about air quality and its health effects easily understandable.

The region's air quality is expected to improve Saturday, with the anticipated air quality index being in the Code Yellow moderate range of between 50 and 100. Under a yellow designation, very sensitive people might wish to limit outdoor activities.

The orange designation means that air pollution concentrations within the region may become unhealthy for sensitive groups. Those groups include children, the elderly, and people suffering from asthma, heart disease, or other lung diseases.

The effects of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding outdoor exercise or strenuous activity.