How is your air?. Our AQI is 165

[Faith-manor]

It is down to 77. I tell there is a big change even though I am not outside.

[KungFuPanda]

110 in central Maryland.  Are we doing this smoke thing again?  I don't care for it.

[Kassia]

3 hours ago, mom2scouts said:

Ours just keep getting worse. Now AQI is 244, it smells like smoke outside, and the sky is hazy.

I think I'm in your area and we are close to 200.  It's pretty bad outside.  

[Granny_Weatherwax]

We are down to 205. We had two slight rain showers today but I don't think they helped.

 

[cjzimmer1]

9 hours ago, dirty ethel rackham said:

Same.  I wish I had thought to wear a mask last night when I took my dog for a walk.  Too bad my senior dog doesn't wear masks.  I had to bring treats to keep his walk short this morning.  Some lady was out running this morning.  Crazy!  

Yesterday we were at 176, I heard several people talking about how smoky the air smelt and my daughter who was working outside (Chik Fil A) asked to be brought in because her throat was so sore and her eyes were stinging.  We live less than a mile from the store.  I worked outside for 5 hours, I neither smelt anything nor had any issues breathing.  I suspect some people are just more sensitive than others. We are currently at 210, I personally can't tell any difference from yesterday.

[KungFuPanda]

Now is smells vaguely like a campfire like it did last time 😩

[Ottakee]

We are down currently to 182, down from mid 200s earlier today.

our Women of Adventure group from church had to cancel our mountain bike ride tonight due to air quality…..think that is a first ever  for me for any event in our area.   Tons of things cancelled the past few days.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

We are back up to 239 (purple) this morning.

 

[historically accurate]

We are at 191 currently, but it is expected to mostly clear out tomorrow and drop below 100. We have wind and showers coming in overnight/tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

[skimomma]

We are in an area with no sensors so we don't have a number.  The regions surrounding us that do have sensors are in the red and purple zones.  It is very hazy and smells like smoke.  It has been this way for days.  I am a runner and have been struggling with deciding what to do.  I cannot just not run all summer.  I have reduced my distances and have skipped a few days but am getting very antsy.  I have had no ill effects from the runs I have done.  Are there long-term ramifications I should be aware of?  There is also really no escaping the air.  No one here has AC and it is too hot to keep all the windows closed 24/7.

[KungFuPanda]

Baltimore - D.C. corridor is currently 151 and tastes like an ash tray.

[kbutton]

Bouncing around in the 160s today, but the cumulative affects are bothering my lungs. We have a range hood that vents to the outside, and we often get a downdraft in it. I might have to ask DH to climb a ladder and stuff something in the vent for now. We have our air filters going during the day, but it might not quite be keeping up. I have had to go out already today, but I wore a mask the whole time (including in the car) except when my teeth were getting cleaned, and they have air filters running in there.

I'm so over it, and it could be so much worse.

 

[kbutton]

1 hour ago, skimomma said:

We are in an area with no sensors so we don't have a number.  The regions surrounding us that do have sensors are in the red and purple zones.  It is very hazy and smells like smoke.  It has been this way for days.  I am a runner and have been struggling with deciding what to do.  I cannot just not run all summer.  I have reduced my distances and have skipped a few days but am getting very antsy.  I have had no ill effects from the runs I have done.  Are there long-term ramifications I should be aware of?  There is also really no escaping the air.  No one here has AC and it is too hot to keep all the windows closed 24/7.

Yes. https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-bad-is-wildfire-smoke-for-your-health#:~:text=The%20particles%20can%20also%20pass,a%20decline%20in%20cognitive%20function.

 

[skimomma]

1 minute ago, kbutton said:

Yes. https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-bad-is-wildfire-smoke-for-your-health#:~:text=The%20particles%20can%20also%20pass,a%20decline%20in%20cognitive%20function.

 

I understand that to mean that there are other ramifications (other than just respiratory) but am wondering if the effects cause cumulative or long-term effects.  I realize that might not even be known.  

[kbutton]

3 minutes ago, skimomma said:

I understand that to mean that there are other ramifications (other than just respiratory) but am wondering if the effects cause cumulative or long-term effects.  I realize that might not even be known.  

Generally, I think that anything that causes cardiac changes does long-term damage (though some is somewhat reversible, like cholesterol), but here's another link.

https://health.ny.gov/environmental/outdoors/air/smoke_from_fire.htm#:~:text=Exposure%20to%20smoke%20can%20also,of%20cardiovascular%20disease%20and%20mortality.

Quote

Exposure to smoke can also increase your risk for long-term (chronic) health effects. People who live in areas with higher fine particulate air pollution and those who breathe air containing fine particles over long periods have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Frequent exposure to smoke even for brief periods can also increase your risk for long-term health effects. Scientists have studied the risk of long-term health effects in firefighters who frequently breathe smoke. Some of these show a higher rate of cancer, lung disease, and cardiovascular disease, while others do not.

 

[kbutton]

This seems like it belongs here...

[SKL]

We're only in the "unhealthy" range today, yay.  😛  182 right now.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

187.  I have a massive headache; I don’t know if it’s related or not but I don’t usually get headaches.  My two younger kids are in VBS this week and they cancelled all outdoor activities.  They go to sleep away camp next week and I’m kind of curious if there’s a plan there for bad air quality, because this is not common here and the camp is focused on being outdoors almost all day.

[kbutton]

14 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

187.  I have a massive headache; I don’t know if it’s related or not but I don’t usually get headaches.

I have heard a lot of people say they have a headache with the bad air. It seems to be bothering me that way, but not as bad as stormy weather does.

 

[Indigo Blue]

Air quality hasn’t been too bad here. Right now it’s 110. But go just two hours north to ds, and it’s 155! He says it’s very “foggy” and they are told to stay indoors, of course. All that seems to be coming our way. 

[Ottakee]

We are down to 160-180 today….down from 260+

[Carrie12345]

I’ve been inside most of the day, but saw it starting to get hazy around 1.
My dumb butt accidentally let my dog into the garage, not knowing the outer door was open. Normally it wouldn’t be too terrible, but his stupid butt decided to tear off I to the forest after a deer! About 20 seconds of hollering for him and we got back inside, but that 20 seconds of air was gross!!!

Turns out, we’re at 172. 

[prairiewindmomma]

On 6/28/2023 at 12:33 PM, dirty ethel rackham said:

while I didn't smell smoke, I could taste it.  It tasted like drywall dust.  My chest feels heavy today.  

The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the burning forests are converted by UV radiation/sunlight into a variety of harmful compounds including benzene and formaldehyde.  The smell/taste will change with whatever is the dominant compound that day---that is why sometimes it will smell or taste like burning plastic or glue as well. 

With re: to running, the danger is that you're pulling the tiny particles deeper into the lungs with deep breaths.  Most of the runners here will go to gyms with Corsi-Rosenthal boxes or other very high filtration and run there or hit the treadmill at home. It's not quite the emotional release as running outside, but there's less long term damage.  As I shared on the previous thread, there are studies coming out showing lifelong change on a dna level with wildfire smoke exposure.  Most of the DNA change is happening in the methylation cycle of genes associated with the nervous and immune systems. It also appears to affect sperm quality, if you know anyone trying to conceive. 

[Selkie]

It was in the 180s here last time I looked earlier today. It hasn't been bothering me at all, but two of my horses are having eye problems from it.

[Farrar]

It was officially in the 180's all day and down to the 150's now, but I saw that a lot of the little meters were higher, well above 200, especially right in the center of the city here.

I am up in the middle of the night because I cannot breathe. When it was so bad a few weeks ago, I literally drove through it because I was on my way to New England. I went through NYC on the day that it was so crazy and you see all the photos. But that morning it was probably around 120 or so in DC and by the time I made it up to Massachusetts, it was in the 80's. So while I got out and walked around in it at several points like a dummy, I started and ended my day with basically breathable AQI and was in the car, with the windows up and the filtered air coming in all day.

But today I started at home with unbreathable AQI and my sinuses are completely inflamed. I keep waking up because I'm not breathing easy. And I don't even have asthma or anything. Ugh.

I am irrationally contemplating getting in the car and driving a few hours away to breathe. And sleep.

[DawnM]

151

My asthma has been pretty bad.

[Faith-manor]

It got down to 77 at one point last night after being 215 during the afternoon. It is 118 now. The prediction is it will get better this afternoon. I really hope so. Our adult kids are coming in from out of town, and we reserved a transient boat slip at the marina so we could take everyone sailing. No refund if we have to cancel. In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal, and yet, everyone is looking forward to it, and I had been planning a cookout at the beach afterward. I really enjoy sailing, and we have not been this season. 

In other news, one of the area high school football coaches held football practice outdoors in that 215 aqi, and told the parents if their kids didn't come they were "Pansy asses". The community facebook news page for the school reported it from more than one parent so I suspect the report is accurate. My thoughts were, " How narcissistic and stupid is he?" and "The liability insurance of the school must be crying in the corner." I would say from the comments that very few sent their kids. Apart from the aqi issue, why in the heck is football practice starting only two weeks after school let out? Don't these kids get even a small summer break?

 

[kbutton]

We are back down to the 50's.

9 hours ago, Farrar said:

It was officially in the 180's all day and down to the 150's now, but I saw that a lot of the little meters were higher, well above 200, especially right in the center of the city here.

I am up in the middle of the night because I cannot breathe. When it was so bad a few weeks ago, I literally drove through it because I was on my way to New England. I went through NYC on the day that it was so crazy and you see all the photos. But that morning it was probably around 120 or so in DC and by the time I made it up to Massachusetts, it was in the 80's. So while I got out and walked around in it at several points like a dummy, I started and ended my day with basically breathable AQI and was in the car, with the windows up and the filtered air coming in all day.

But today I started at home with unbreathable AQI and my sinuses are completely inflamed. I keep waking up because I'm not breathing easy. And I don't even have asthma or anything. Ugh.

I am irrationally contemplating getting in the car and driving a few hours away to breathe. And sleep.

Masking in the car helps. At home we have a Corsi-Rosenthal box.

We had to rig a little waterproof box to cover the outside of our range vent that vents to the outdoors to keep my from misery. We have issues in certain kinds of weather with the neighbor's fireplace smoke coming in the house too, so it's on our to-do list to fix more permanently.

 

[Farrar]

The closest official station just dropped to 50!!! It's still much higher at a lot of the other ones around me. But I'm relieved that it's on a downward trend.

[Faith-manor]

Back up, sigh. 151 and an extension of the warning to 12 am Sunday. I don't think we are going sailing. It is also too late to get a real fund on the boat slip.

I am feeling a bit down at the moment. All of our adult kids in town foe the weekend, and if doesn't improve.a.bunch, we will be huddled up indoors.

[skimomma]

22 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Back up, sigh. 151 and an extension of the warning to 12 am Sunday. I don't think we are going sailing. It is also too late to get a real fund on the boat slip.

I am feeling a bit down at the moment. All of our adult kids in town foe the weekend, and if doesn't improve.a.bunch, we will be huddled up indoors.

Could you still go and wear N-95s?

[mommyoffive]

6 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

It got down to 77 at one point last night after being 215 during the afternoon. It is 118 now. The prediction is it will get better this afternoon. I really hope so. Our adult kids are coming in from out of town, and we reserved a transient boat slip at the marina so we could take everyone sailing. No refund if we have to cancel. In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal, and yet, everyone is looking forward to it, and I had been planning a cookout at the beach afterward. I really enjoy sailing, and we have not been this season. 

In other news, one of the area high school football coaches held football practice outdoors in that 215 aqi, and told the parents if their kids didn't come they were "Pansy asses". The community facebook news page for the school reported it from more than one parent so I suspect the report is accurate. My thoughts were, " How narcissistic and stupid is he?" and "The liability insurance of the school must be crying in the corner." I would say from the comments that very few sent their kids. Apart from the aqi issue, why in the heck is football practice starting only two weeks after school let out? Don't these kids get even a small summer break?

 

Good. 

 

[Faith-manor]

28 minutes ago, skimomma said:

Could you still go and wear N-95s?

Depends on the harbor master. Over on Lake Michigan they had some near misses at St. Joseph's because the smog was so bad boats couldn't see each other coming from the harbor into the marina. There was a DNR request that everyone consider staying off the water. We have not had an update here on Lake Huron except that they were asking people to consider not engaging in activity that would cause more pollution and that included not driving or idling motors. Due to how tight the channel is, we have to use the gas motor just to get out of the channel. Too protected, not enough air to sail in and out. Once on open water, then we can sail. So there is that, and we have a 20 minute drive to the marina. Then there is the issue of safety. It would be easy to be rammed by a speedboat if the visibility is bad. So I doubt we can make the call until tomorrow, and of course we need to consider the weight of opinion from the harbor master who gets his information from the Coast Guard.

[KungFuPanda]

The good news is that our air quality is now 55.  The bad news is that the fresh air was ushered in by a tornado so we got to cower in the basement during the warning. It touched down a few miles from here in a friend’s neighborhood. From what she saw only trees were hit and no people or homes. I’m not sure where else, if anywhere, it landed. 

[mommyoffive]

10 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

The good news is that our air quality is now 55.  The bad news is that the fresh air was ushered in by a tornado so we got to cower in the basement during the warning. It touched down a few miles from here in a friend’s neighborhood. From what she saw only trees were hit and no people or homes. I’m not sure where else, if anywhere, it landed. 

I am glad you are safe.

[mommyoffive]

18 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Depends on the harbor master. Over on Lake Michigan they had some near misses at St. Joseph's because the smog was so bad boats couldn't see each other coming from the harbor into the marina. There was a DNR request that everyone consider staying off the water. We have not had an update here on Lake Huron except that they were asking people to consider not engaging in activity that would cause more pollution and that included not driving or idling motors. Due to how tight the channel is, we have to use the gas motor just to get out of the channel. Too protected, not enough air to sail in and out. Once on open water, then we can sail. So there is that, and we have a 20 minute drive to the marina. Then there is the issue of safety. It would be easy to be rammed by a speedboat if the visibility is bad. So I doubt we can make the call until tomorrow, and of course we need to consider the weight of opinion from the harbor master who gets his information from the Coast Guard.

Hoping for good news for you.  I think they should give you guys a refund if weather doesn't let you go out.

[Faith-manor]

6 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Hoping for good news for you.  I think they should give you guys a refund if weather doesn't let you go out.

We talked with the harbormaster again this morning. Visibility is ebtter, and air quality is 51. He said if we stick within 1/4 mile to at most 1/2 mile of shore, we should be able sail safely. Any further out, and the visibility drops. So our sons are helping Mark hook up the trailer lights now. If nothing else, we are going to get out of the channel, onto the lake itself, and if we can't go very far, drop anchor and eat lunch on the boat. After that, we will put Ina Belle back in her slip, and just keep a watch on visibility and air quality for the next three days. Any time it improves enough to be safe, we will run up hoist the sails, and get whatever sailing time in that we can.

The kids all have a three day weekend over Labor Day, and they have p.t.o. they can take, so they are thinking of taking Friday off as well. If they do that, they can come home Thursday night after work, and sail on Friday and Saturday, kayak on Sunday, go home Monday IF weather permits all of that. Hopefully the Canadian Wildfires are done by then. I hope that not just for us, but for our Canadian neighbors as well. I cannot imagine just how awful this must be for them!

Thanks!!

[Halftime Hope]

On 6/30/2023 at 2:44 AM, Farrar said:

I am irrationally contemplating getting in the car and driving a few hours away to breathe. And sleep.

@Farrar to me this sounds entirely rational.

[AmandaVT]

 

Back up over 150 already today. The sun is trying to shine but it's very smoky out. 

 

[Farrar]

We're hovering around 100. They keep saying it'll go down, but it's been averaging closer to 115 or so for the last two days. So, better, but not good.

[Ottakee]

We are up to 135 now but still way better than over 275 of a few days ago 

[kbutton]

Down to the 30's, and we're finally getting some rain. Not tons, but some. It's been looking like August here for weeks. 

[historically accurate]

We are finally below 100 (99 actually).

This morning looked really bad when I went out at 7 am, but it's cleared up a little now. Sitting at the intersection - I couldn't see the McD's across the street (should be able to see the "Golden Arches" right behind that telephone pole..

 

[Faith-manor]

8 hours ago, Ottakee said:

We are up to 135 now but still way better than over 275 of a few days ago 

I am happy you are getting relief, but the west side has been so hammered, I really wish a low number for you tomorrow.

[Farrar]

And now the fireworks are starting. Gee, wonder if that'll improve the AQI. 🙄

[Faith-manor]

We did get to go sailing. The AQI dropped down to 49, and the visibility increased to about a mile. Not great for boating, especially with all the speedboats. But we hugged the shoreline and stayed out of harm's way.

What was so disconcerting was that about 2 miles out you could see this epic wall of smog. They the wind was blowing at the the time, it wasn't moving towards us. However, it was so gut wrenching because all of that toxic ash is just falling into the lake. The Great Lakes represent 22.5% of the entire planet's fresh water. So this is a very serious situation. I cried for a little bit. I am a bred, born, and raised Michigander, a member of a clan of people who revere these waters, and when no one agrees on any kind of politics, the ones thing that brings us all together is our gorgeous nature and these lakes, these inland seas. I know Ottakee feels that just as acutely as I do as a Lake Michigan dweller.

Here is a picture of our middle son on the bow assisting with crewing the ship. You can see how grey the sky is, as if a storm is brewing up in the distance. It wasn't... All smoke. This lake is normally a gorgeous blue, almost light turquoise, with vibrant blue skies. Everything was grey.

AQI at home right now is down to 44, and I can really feel the difference in my sinuses.

Hoping everyone has clearer air tomorrow! Be safe. Farrar, I say drive somewhere else and breathe deep.