How air quality is measured in the Coachella Valley
On hot Summer days, the Coachella Valley tends to see poor air quality levels.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District has three monitoring stations throughout the Coachella Valley to get real-time data on air quality levels.
In order to determine air quality levels they have to measure the following.
"We measured some pollutants and they're called carbon monoxide, ozone, and PM 10 in near real-time, and we also measure what's called filtered bass PM 2.5," says Dr. Jason Low with South Coast AQMD.
Doctors with South Coast AQMD say PM 10 are large coarse particles that derive mostly from dust.
PM 2.5 are smaller particles that are released into the air through things like car exhaust or the burning of certain fuels.
"Both Ozone and PM ten affect the entire Coachella Valley. However, ozone tends to be worse in the Northern and Western part. The Palm Springs area has the highest ozone in the Coachella Valley, whereas PM 10 tends to be worse in the Southern and Eastern part. So kind of the Mecca region," says Dr. Scott Epstein, with South Coast AQMD.
Ozone and smog are two main air quality concerns in the valley.
"That's a pollutant that's formed in the atmosphere. And most of the ozone that we see in the Coachella Valley actually comes up when from like the Inland Empire and the LA metropolitan area," Epstein said.
The South Coast AQMD issues advisories when they expect air quality to be poor.
"Either due to high levels of ozone or if there's a wildfire, which leads to high levels of fine particle pollution or PM 2.5, or if we expect to see a lot of wind blown dust or PM ten," Epstein said.
You can find those advisories and up-to-date AQI levels online.
If you head to the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s homepage or app, you can find an up-to-date map showing the air quality index levels throughout the region they monitor.
You can click the city you’d like – then you’ll get an exact air quality index for your area, which lands on scale between hazardous and good.
