Posted on Thursday July 22nd by The Infrastructurist | 2,295
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So far, this year is the hottest year on record, and last month broke records for the warmest June. All of which makes it the perfect time to take a look at the state of our air quality — which takes a nosedive in the hotter months.
This graph, by Martha Kang McGill, depicts the fluctuating air quality in major U.S. cities throughout the year. For those readers in L.A., well, caveat emptor.
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Was no data on San Francisco available, or do they really have zero days per year of unhealthy air quality?
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Given that so much of the industry in NorCal is in the East Bay, shouldn’t you include Oakland and not just SF?
July 22nd, 2010 at 4:57 pm
There’s no context as to what the circles mean as regards to public health. Are the big circles dangerous? I have no idea based on the graphic, though they are certainly intended to look bad. Are the people of L.A. in peril? Should they evacuate to Minneapolis until the Fall? The pall of smog over L.A. on summer days is certainly much less thick than it was say 20 years ago. One further improvement would be to layer on to this chart information regarding European cities. I’d love to see how Cologne or Paris would compare. I’ve been to Rome and Naples in the summer. Put it this way: you’d much rather be in L.A. if you’re asthmatic.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:20 am
what happened to NYC???? they couldn’t find data on the whole city????
all the other cities are listed there (i.e. Houston, Miami) and NYC is just “Manhattan”
nonsense
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:22 pm
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. The air is better here, even in industrial Oakland, not so much because of better environmental practices, but because of weather patterns and geography. During the summer, the Bay Area is around 60-70 degrees while the inland Central Valley is about 100 degrees. As a result, every night, the fog gets sucked out of the Bay Area and into the Central Valley, taking all the air pollution with it. As a result, the air quality in Fresno is worse than L.A., since they get our pollution in addition to their own.
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:07 pm
[...] From D.C. to Moscow, this summer has been a scorcher across the whole globe. Beyond the sweat, individuals are increasingly suffering poorer air quality conditions. [...]
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Manhattan is much more polluted than the Outer Boroughs. So including all of NYC would make the city look better, not worse.
July 26th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Francis has it right about the air quality in the SF Bay Area. I grew up in Sacramento and never really understood why we had such bad smog in the valley for its population. Then I learned those nice breezes at night were bringing in all of the Bay Area’s air pollution and it made a lot of sense. That’s not why I moved to the East Bay, but it’s nicer.
July 27th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Couple years ago the power company here in the Bay Area ran an environmental PR campaign in San Francisco, among which the slogans included “green is a city with country air”. Always wondered what the Central Valley folks thought when they saw those billboards…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/3826799049/in/set-72157604316516829/
July 27th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Please link to original study.
July 27th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
how is it that baltimore is better off than dc or philly even tho it lies b/w these cities and has similar climate and traffic patterns?
August 2nd, 2010 at 6:16 am
I live in a suburb of Los Angeles. 3 out of the 4 people in my household have asthma. I was born with it, the other two developed it over time. You can see, smell, and taste the air, its disgusting. And good luck getting away from a freeway out here. This whole area is revolting, not just the air. Its also the trash, the urination, the water, and the overall uncleanliness of the cities. I am in college and own property out here but as soon as I graduate I’m leaving. There is no appeal in Los Angeles anymore.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Many of the questions posed in the comments are answered in the text at the bottom of the graphic. This is the average number of days per month over the last five years that the air quality was deemed too high to be healthy for outdoor activities. Also, only Manhattan is included because each borough of NYC is it’s own county (perhaps it’s similar in SF/Oakland/etc?). My guess is that data is available for counties, not metropolitan areas. Certainly, it’s disappointing when one’s own metropolitan area is not appropriately represented, but I’m sure the designer made editorial choices with the goal of representing the different regions as best she could. Anyone can find all the data for every county from the website of the data source cited in the text below the graphic.