For more than a century Pittsburgh was The Smoky City with air so bad we were called hell with the lid off. After World War II we transformed ourselves with clean air laws enforced by the Allegheny County Health Department. The smoke is gone and we’re looking good, but Pittsburgh is still one of the top 10 most polluted places in the U.S.
You can’t see our bad air anymore but some days you can smell it. Yesterday was one of those days.
The Smell PGH map above (May 2) has a colored triangle for every air quality report made on the crowd-sourced app. The darker red the triangle, the worse the air smelled to the person who made the report to the Allegheny County Health Department. At the bottom right, May 2 has a black square above it (bad air!). So do May 1 and April 27. You can see our smelly days.
The reports are easy to make. I downloaded the app and followed the directions at the Smell PGH website:
- Rate the air with a color
- Describe it. For instance: industrial, rotten eggs, etc
- If you have symptoms from the air, describe them
- Click [Smell Report]
As soon as you press [Smell Report] your colored triangle sends a message to the Allegheny County Health Department and the app shows you the current map. Don’t forget to enter your name and email address under Settings for more impact.
I used to think I was alone when I noticed bad air days. The app has changed my outlook. Find out more at the Smell PGH website.
p.s. The weather changed. Today, May 3, 2018, is much better.
(screenshots from the Smell PGH website)
People in my community burn a lot of wood fires in their backyards in the summer in their fire/barbecue pits. Sometimes the air gets so thick its impossible to breathe!
Someone posted this app on Facebook a few months ago. I live out in the Sewickley area but regularly notice smells coming from the many factories out in our area. I’m sure to mark it when I notice it.