(WHTM) — For the second day in a row, the National Weather Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a code red for air quality for Thursday.
According to Jeff Jumper with PEMA, smoke from Canadian wildfires arrived on Tuesday and will continue to overspread the region which is the reason for the code red air quality alert.
The National Weather Service states that Code Red means that air pollution concentrations within the region are unhealthy, and members of the general public may experience mild health effects. The weather service also states that people with sensitive conditions may experience more serious health effects.
For the air quality to be in the red, the Air Quality Index, or AQI needs to be between 151 and 200.
Air quality reports conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection are updated hourly at half-past the hour. They can be found here.
Airnow.gov offers an interactive map where users can type in their city, state, or zip code to see the AQI in their area. You can click here to see the map, as well as where the smoke is across the country and specific regions.
Closer to home, there is also a threat of wildfires. Many counties and communities throughout the region have enacted burn bans. Below are some of the areas that have enacted these bans:
- Littlestown, Adams County
- Franklin Township, Adams County
- Southampton Township, Cumberland County
- Shippensburg, Cumberland/Franklin Counties
- Lancaster County
- Highspire, Dauphin County
