What's the air like today?
There are several free, online air monitoring resources that we recommend keeping at your fingertips for when you need to know more about current air quality. We offer this resource hub as a way to quickly find this information all in one place.
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. You can enter your zip code for the local AQI. AirNow will show the AQI for either PM2.5 or ozone, whichever is higher at the time.
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.
Download the AirNow app for free on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
Purple Air is a company that sells outdoor and indoor air quality sensors commercially and collects hyper-local, real-time, air quality data to share with the public. Whether or not you own a monitor, you can access their map to see readings from their sensors. In part due to efforts by local advocates, Southwestern Pennsylvania has a strong network of Purple Air sensors, making their map a valuable resource.
GASP has utilized Purple Air monitors for multiple projects, including our DEP-funded municipal government education program and our ongoing EPA-funded community air monitoring project.
Allegheny County Air Quality Dashboard
The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) Air Quality Program maintains an Air Quality Dashboard to provide residents with real-time data. Their dashboard displays data from the continuous monitors within the monitoring network across Allegheny County and projects the current Air Quality Index (AQI).
You can also sign up for Allegheny Alerts to receive text or email updates. Look for air quality-related alerts under the ACHD's Air Quality Program. Mon Valley residents can also sign up for specific regional updates.
Not sure why ACHD would have a dashboard specifically for hydrogen sulfide? Learn more here.
Smell Pittsburgh
Smell PGH crowdsources smell reports to better track how odors from pollutants travel through the air across the Pittsburgh region. While air quality monitors are also displayed on their map (see the colored circles), this map focuses on resident experiences via location-based reports on what people are smelling at the time. We recommend downloading their free app so you're ready to make reports and view input from your community.
Download the Smell PGH app for free on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.