Weather

DEVELOPING: Arlington air quality now at ‘hazardous’ level

By ARLnow.com
The Washington Monument in the haze, as seen from a Pentagon City apartment building Thursday morning (via WeatherBug)

The air quality in Arlington has reached the worst level on the scale — “hazardous.”

As of 9 a.m. the federal government website AirNow says Arlington’s AQI, or air quality index, is 313. That puts the county in “Code Maroon” territory, two levels above the more commonly known Code Red.

“Everyone should stay indoors and reduce activity levels,” the website says. Anyone who must be outside today is being encouraged to wear a high quality mask.

Arlington Public Schools, the county parks department and the Arlington Soccer Association — among others — have cancelled all outdoor activities Thursday. Meanwhile, the FAA says that air traffic at D.C. airports may be impacted by the low visibility.

Cameras in Pentagon City show D.C. barely visible through the haze this morning. A rancid campfire-like smell is pervasive throughout the area.

Despite the apocalyptic scene outside this morning, the good news is that some relief is on the way. The National Weather Service says a front is expected to enter the area tomorrow, clearing out some of the smoke.

Tomorrow the air quality for the D.C. region is expected to largely be at “Code Orange” levels, with an average AQI just above 100.

Air quality reading for Arlington as of 9 a.m. Thursday (via airnow.gov)

Update at 10:20 a.m. — The National Weather Service just issued the following Special Weather Statement, suggesting that even thicker smoke may be on the way, before conditions gradually improve.

…POOR AIR QUALITY IN THE MID-ATLANTIC THROUGH FRIDAY DUE TO CANADIAN WILDFIRES…

Due to Canadian wildfires, smoke is prevalent in the Mid-Atlantic region, including the greater Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas. Under northerly winds, smoke will continue to be pushed south over our area. Thicker smoke will continue to overspread portions of the area, resulting in poor air quality and visibility potentially less than 1 mile. Some improvement is likely through the day, but the smoke likely will continue to affect the area at times until a front on Friday potentially brings some reprieve to fine particle concentrations.

Depending on your location, Air Quality will vary, with much of the area either Code Orange or Code Red through the day today. There is a Code Purple Air Quality Alert for the District of Columbia.

A Code Orange Air Quality Alert means that air pollution concentrations within the region are unhealthy for sensitive groups. Sensitive groups include children, people with heart or lung disease, older adults, pregnant people, and those that spend a lot of time outdoors.

Some areas may see Code Red, which means “unhealthy for the general population.” If you are under a Code Red Air Quality Alert, everyone should keep outdoor activities light and short. For those people in sensitive groups, consider moving all activities indoors.

A Code Purple Air Quality Alert means that everyone may experience more serious heath effects and should avoid outdoor activities, especially individuals with heart and breathing ailments, children, and older adults.

The effects of air pollution on people can be minimized by avoiding strenuous outdoor activity or exercising indoors. Go indoors if you have symptoms.

Update at 11 a.m. — This is now officially the first Code Purple air quality day for fine particle pollution, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) has issued a Code Purple Air Quality Health Advisory for the metropolitan Washington region. Current air quality conditions have reached Code Purple, very unhealthy levels for everyone, for fine particle pollution due to ongoing smoke from fires in Canada. The air quality forecast for June 8 has been updated to Code Purple.

COG shares the following health precautions from EPA:

  • Sensitive groups (including children, older adults, and people with heart or lung disease): Avoid all physical activity outdoors. Reschedule to a time when air quality is better or move activities indoors.*
  • Everyone else: Avoid long or intense activities. Consider rescheduling or moving activities indoors.*

The D.C. region has not previously recorded a Code Purple day for fine particle pollution. In 2012, the region recorded two days for ozone pollution that would qualify as Code Purple by the current 2015 standards.

Photo via WeatherBug

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Haze over homes and trees in the Old Glebe neighborhood (staff photo)

Forecast: Home Prices to Keep Soaring — “An already constrained inventory coupled with developers circling the community in search of lots viable for Missing Middle-type housing could continue pushing the price of single-family homes higher in Arlington. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors and Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, which predicts 2023 will end with Arlington single-family-home prices up an average of 9.2 percent from the year before.” [Gazette Leader]

APS Examining Renovation Needs — “Arlington School Board members on June 8 are slated to approve a contract to finish up an ongoing analysis of existing facilities in preparation for future renovation. The second-stage contract of $832,273 will go to Arlington-based MTFA Architecture, which in coming months will develop an analysis that focuses on the conditions of: 25 elementary schools. Six middle schools. Six high schools and high-school programs.” [Gazette Leader]

Local History Event Tonight — “Did you know that during the Civil War our county was home not only to a ring of US Army defensive forts but also to convalescent camps? In 1862 the US Army established a convalescent camp north of Four Mile Run. The camp had barracks for 5,000 convalescents, tents for 1,000 men returning to their regiments and hospital wards for 500 patients.” [Event Calendar]

Welcome Interns — ARLnow and sister site FFXnow are proud to introduce our 2023 summer intern class: Anya Wareck, Hallie LeTendre and Vivian Hoang. Readers will be seeing their work on our sites over the next two months.

It’s Thursday — Widespread haze. Areas of smoke. Sunny, with a high near 79. North wind around 8 mph. At night: Widespread haze. Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. Northwest wind around 7 mph. [Weather.gov]

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Around Town

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Jun 7, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Wednesday evening, Arlington. Today we published articles that were read a total of 13308 times… so far.

📈 Top stories

The following are the most-read articles for today — Jun 7, 2023.

  1. UPDATED: Local air quality reaches Code Red level as wildfire smoke thickens
  2. UPDATED: Police respond to reported fight and shot fired in Green Valley
  3. Arlington Soccer Association ditches white shorts
  4. Morning Notes

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Thursday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

☀️ Thursday’s forecast

Widespread haze. Areas of smoke. Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. North wind around 8 mph. At night: Widespread haze. Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. Northwest wind around 7 mph. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.

Weather

UPDATE: ‘Very unhealthy’ air outside Thursday morning

By ARLnow.com
1/3

Update at 9:30 a.m. — The air quality has worsened and entered the “Code Maroon” — or “hazardous” — category.

Update at 8:50 a.m. — Air quality in Arlington has reached well into the Code Purple “Very Unhealthy” category, with an AQI of 276. All locals should avoid spending time outside if possible or wear an N95 or similar mask.

Arlington Public Schools and the county parks department, meanwhile, have cancelled all outdoor activities Thursday.

“School will operate as usual today with some modifications,” APS said this morning. “All APS field trips scheduled for today to outdoor locations have been canceled. All APS outdoor activities, including outdoor afterschool activities, have been canceled. APS indoor activities will continue as planned.”

From DPR: ” Due to the air quality, all outdoor DPR and partner programs are canceled for today. We will continue to monitor the health advisory and will notify you of any future related cancellations.”

Air quality reading for Arlington as of 8 a.m. Thursday (via airnow.gov)

Earlier: Thursday will be another Code Red air quality alert day for Arlington and the D.C. area.

The good news, though, is that some relief from the wildfire smoke is in sight.

Authorities issued the Code Red alert just before 5 p.m. today, urging people to stay inside and avoid outdoor exercise. From the National Weather Service:

…AIR QUALITY ALERT IS IN EFFECT FOR THURSDAY JUNE 8 2023…
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has issued a Code RED Air Quality Alert Thursday for Northern Virginia. A Code Red Air Quality Alert means that air pollution concentrations within the region are unhealthy for the general population. The effects of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding strenuous activity or exercise outdoors. For more information on ground-level ozone and fine particles visit the web site Virginia DEQ air quality web site at www.deq.virginia.gov.

Separately, NWS said in a Special Weather Statement that a front should “bring some reprieve to fine particle concentrations” on Friday.

…POOR AIR QUALITY IN THE MID-ATLANTIC THROUGH FRIDAY DUE TO CANADIAN WILDFIRES…

Due to Canadian wildfires, smoke is prevalent in the mid-Atlantic region, including the greater Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas. Under northerly winds, smoke will continue to be pushed south over our area. The smoke is expected to be rather thick to start the day Thursday, but may start to decrease through the day. A front on Friday will bring some reprieve to fine particle concentrations.

Depending on your location, Air Quality will vary, with much of the area either Code Orange or Code Red – possibly through Friday. […]

Some areas may see Code Red, which means “unhealthy for the general population.” If you are under a Code Red Air Quality Alert, everyone should keep outdoor activities light and short.

For those people in sensitive groups, consider moving all activities indoors.

The effects of air pollution on people can be minimized by avoiding strenuous outdoor activity or exercise indoors. Go indoors if you have symptoms.

Earlier today, Arlington hit measured air quality levels even worse than the Code Red threshold, though it has since improved somewhat.

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