Realtime California Air Quality(purpleair.com) |
Realtime California Air Quality(purpleair.com) |
Airnow's map is slow to load, but shows smoke, air monitors (including the Purple Air ones^[footnote]), and fires all at once: https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.40&lng=-122.077&zoom=10#
A less detailed, fast, static map for the SF Bay Area is available at http://www.baaqmd.gov.
Last, but not least, there is a forecast of surface-level smoke available at https://hwp-viz.gsd.esrl.noaa.gov/smoke/. I found it from https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea, which is a good source of news for the Bay Area.
[footnote]: To make the numbers match, I had to set PurpleAir to show One-Hour Averages with the LRAPA scoring. See https://imgur.com/a/d6yFtow.
I think the source for that static map is here: https://gispub.epa.gov/airnow/, and includes some projections.
Accuweather and Windy.com have pretty good forecasts, but the ones that have been the most accurate this week for me are the US Forest Service's BlueSky models.
California (might miss northern smoke) - https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v2/run/standard/CANSAC-1.33...
CA, OR, ID, NV, UT, AZ - https://tools.airfire.org/websky/v2/run/standard/CANSAC-4km/...
[1] Plantower PMS7003 are less than $20 on AliExpress. Here's a quick plot of the data https://i.imgur.com/FjABgpP.png including a spike where it was above a grill.
I'm surprised though why the data is so different between airnow and purpleair. On AirNow, SF currently shows unhealthy air (150~) whereas purpleair shows 88 (moderate). Which one of these is more reliable and real-time?
The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency has developed a conversion formula that is built into Purple Air (if you apply the LRAPA conversion factor in the UI), so you can have a better comparison.
[0] https://medium.com/@16fcali/understanding-purpleair-vs-airno...
That said, the PurpleAir devices use high quality laser particulate sensors, so they're still significantly more accurate than most consumer devices.
Both are real time, but during a wildfire where smoke is shifting between neighborhoods, I'd go with the PurpleAir site to get a score for your particular neighborhood. Just be sure to turn on the LRAPA scoring model, as others have mentioned.
Airnow's map shows both the government sensors and the Purple Air sensors, but that seems to be a recent "pilot project". I doubt they use the low-cost sensor data anywhere else.
Purple air relies on a bunch of devices people have bought and installed all over. I think airnow is just a handful of government ones?
PurpleAir lets me see my neighbor's air quality stats...two houses away. PurpleAir is much more relevant and accurate for me.
There's also the fire map that includes both public and private sensors, the regular interactive map I don't believe uses all the available sensors. https://fire.airnow.gov/ > Notice: The Sensor Data Pilot adds a new layer of air quality data from low-cost sensors.
https://files.airnowtech.org/airnow/today/cur_aqi_sanfrancis...
https://www.chicoer.com/2020/08/23/national-weather-service-...
Anything more available?
Purple Air sells you a sensor that you can install, and then takes the data, displays it on their website for lots of people to view, and then presumably makes money off the data you send them? Why should you have to pay for the sensor then?
From installation guide:
https://www2.purpleair.com/pages/install
If you set your sensor to private, you may view it by logging in to the PurpleAir map using a Gmail address that matches the "Owner's Email" in the registration form. Alternatively, you can use the link provided in the registration confirmation email. You may share this link with family and friends.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/style/air-quality-polluti...
I have a Purple Air sensor; I view the money I spent on it as helping to sponsor a "citizen science" project. Could the nature of the project change in the future, to where I feel like I was taken advantage of? Sure, I guess. But I'm ok taking that risk.
From the beginning it was important for us to give back to the community so we setup AirGradient for Education providing free tutorials and advise.
We just published our open source and open hardware air quality sensor measuring PM2.5, CO2, Temperature and Humdity. So you can build your own sensor with a small display to measure the air quality in and around your home. We call it the AirGradient DIY sensor.
Build instructions, Code and Hardware files can be found on our project page: https://www.airgradient.com/diy/
It would be great to hear feedback from you!
PS: We are also looking for schools that are interested in improving air quality to learn more about their needs and possible solutions. Please PM me for more information.
Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24251509
Copy/pasta to help folks:
Note: this is not my idea, but I have used it for 2 Cal fire seasons successfully.
1) Acquire a box fan
2) Acquire a large "FPR 10" rated filter from home depot
3) Duct tape filter to the out flow side of the box fan. Make sure the arrows on the filter point in the correct airflow direction.
This works dramatically well for very little dollars and can help save your lungs if air purifiers are not available or expensive.
Over Quota
This application is temporarily over its serving quota.
Please try again later."Thank you for the feedback. We are working on an update that will 'save' your preferred map view when logged in on the PurpleAir website. However, it is not published yet."
See my post above how I am able to bookmark the site after I choose the settings I want and it remember these choices when I visit again.
COVID is bringing out the worst in all parts of our society. It has been such a stressful time, and I am someone who has some financial security. I can't imagine how tough things are on the average American right now.
Stay strong everybody. We will make it out of this.
[1]. https://firemap.sdsc.edu/
[2]. https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfer.php?basemap=USA_base...
[3]. http://www.alertwildfire.org/northbay/index.html?camera=Axis...
That article is well worth a read. I now am using PA in this mode.
Their Twitter feed is also worth subscribing to:
Florida is mostly low rolling hills with the highest point in the state being ~350 feet above sea level. If Florida has a fire in an inaccessible area, it's usually inaccessible due to water, so more of a help to firefighters than a hindrance.
Also, most fires start in grassy areas. The Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise started as a grass fire on federal land before it spread to shrubs and burned through mostly private land. California has almost 8 million acres of shrubs.
The Woosley Fire that burned almost half of Malibu was started on industrial property owned by Boeing and spread through chaparral along the steep Santa Monica Mountains.