Addressing Air Quality in Colonial Beach

One of our readers (Jennifer M.) asked us to address the air quality in Colonial Beach in regards to the recent Canadian Wildfires.

Jennifer thank you for your question regarding air quality and reminding us to keep a closer look on it. This article is dedicated to you.

To skip all the superfluous data go to the bottom of the page for our Air Quality conclusion.

To get a good understanding of how Air Quality can affect our health here is a short video from the National Weather Service:

The National Weather Service says this about the effects of Canadian Wildfires on the U.S.

Smoke from Canadian and U.S. wildfires continue to spread across the skies across much of the Great Lakes. 

The smoke may dim the sun and create colorful sunrises and sunsets. Where the smoke is the thickest, it is reaching the surface, reducing visibilities, and creating a campfire smell at times. The smoke will also create air quality issues at times, mainly for sensitive groups. See the links below for more information.

National Weather Service

Real Time Satellite Imagery

The current air quality for Colonial Beach at 9:30 on July 20, 2023 is good.

According to reports from Maryland Thursday may result in a slight push towards unhealthy ozone levels for sensitive groups.

USG stands for Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups and the acronym is used to measure air quality for this group. The USG Index is measured as follows:

Today’s USG is predicted to be Orange, with Moderate AQI (Air Qulity Index) conditions elsewhere.

The report from the Maryland Department of the Environment continues to report:

Partial cloud cover Thursday should help to mitigate ozone, along with increasing afternoon winds, resulting in a mid to upper-Moderate AQI forecast.

Areas from Frederick to Towson are most likely to flirt with USG ozone conditions, and real-time alerts will be sent should those conditions materialize.

Upper Good to low Moderate AQI is expected on Friday with warm temperatures and increasing sun balanced by windy conditions. Slightly cooler but also less windy conditions

Saturday will sustain ozone towards the Good/Moderate threshold. Residual smoke will continue to diminish as winds and/or storms remove the smoke from the local atmosphere, with low-end Moderate to Good AQI expected due to fine particles.

For the latest air quality information, please visit our website: https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/Air/AirQualityMonitoring/Pages/index.aspx – MDE

Maryland Department of the Environment

Air Quality Conclusion

If you’re highly sensitive to pollutants you may want to limit your outdoor activities to moderate levels and reduce time outside.

For most individuals today is fairly good day to be outside.

We do expect some rain later this evening and into the overnight hours.