Cool Website for February - AirNow
With all the news about train crashes and chemical explosions and air quality, I did some digging around and found the AirNow website by the EPA.
Simply enter your zip code, city, or state and the website will query the database and show you how the quality of the outside air in your area. If you scroll down just a little on the left side, you will see a map, click on the map and you can see how the air quality is around the US. I’m not just talking about allergy season or pollen, I’m talking about all airborne chemicals.
There is even an archive function, where you can select a date on a calendar and see what the air quality was for that date.
You can see what the air quality is for a large group of U.S. Embassies, plus there is a page to see a fair amount of web cameras.
And I’m very super sad to report that the web server isn’t set up correctly as you can pull up a chunk of data that should be secured and locked down, simply by a mis-spelling. Running several web servers myself, this type of thing really upsets me.
But the best part of the AirNow website is the interactive EPA air quality map, right down to the street level.
There are also apps for mobile phones
AirNow is your one-stop source for air quality data. Our recently redesigned site highlights air quality in your local area first, while still providing air quality information at state, national, and world views. A new interactive map even lets you zoom out to get the big picture or drill down to see data for a single air quality monitor.
AirNow reports air quality using the official U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI), a color-coded index designed to communicate whether air quality is healthy or unhealthy for you. When you know the AQI in your area, you can take steps to protect your health.
AirNow is a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control, and tribal, state, and local air quality agencies. Complete list of AirNow partners. Agencies all over the country send their monitoring data to AirNow for display. The Department of State provides data from U.S. Embassies and Consulates to inform personnel and citizens overseas, and the U.S. Forest Service and NOAA provide fire and smoke data.
AirNow’s centralized data system provides quality control, national reporting consistency, and the ability to distribute data to the public, researchers, businesses, educators, and to other data systems. In AirNow, you’ll find:
- Current and forecast air quality maps and data for more than 500 cities across the U.S.
- Current and historical data for U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world
- Current fire conditions including fire locations, smoke plumes, and air quality data from permanent and temporary air quality monitors
- Air quality data for Canada and Mexico
- Enviroflash emails, apps, widgets, and an API
- Health and air quality information for
- the public
- healthcare professionals
- teachers and students
- weathercasters
