Hazy Shade of Summer: Air Quality Hits Unhealthy Levels

For the first time this year, summer got a little bit hazy as air quality levels in Saratoga County hit unhealthy levels. 

On July 26 and 27, a monitoring station in Albany County — the closest to Saratoga County that reports to the EPA — air quality index levels above 101 for the first time this year, making the air unhealthy for sensitive groups. 

These reports were backed up by private air quality monitors from the company IQAir which has seven monitors in Saratoga County. All of their monitors in the county showed air quality index levels hitting 101 or more in that time frame. 

The drop in air quality comes as fire crews across North America battle several wildfires. In the US, there are currently 33 large fires being fought while Canada is seeing 109 fires, of which 56 are out of control, according to the National Interagency Fire Center and Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre as of July 30. In total forest fires have burned 15,357,733 acres in Canada and 3,141,850 acres in the US. 

These fires have sent smoke plumes across the continent, leading to air quality alerts hundreds of miles from the origin of the smoke. The latest air quality alert advised sensitive groups — listed as those who are children, pregnant, have an underlying medical condition and/or work outside — to take frequent breaks, lower the intensity of work and to watch for symptoms such as shortness of breath and coughing. 

Saratoga County wasn’t the worst place in New York to be affected by the drop in air quality. A monitoring station on White Mountain in the Adirondacks reported an air quality index of 160, a level dangerous to everyone outside. 

The drop in air quality was compounded by extreme heat advisories which saw temperatures as high as the 90s.