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MidniteRain

With the , I've been looking at monitoring apps. Each shows different air quality measurements, depending on modeling & monitoring stations (screenshots taken minutes apart, from a few hours ago):

•FireSmoke: 1-10 µg/m³ (AQI ~2-40)
•AirNow: AQI ~51-150
•BCGov: 0-25µg/m³ (AQI ~0-70)
•IQAir: AQI 46-137
•PurpleAir: AQI 63-194

In order from my least favourite to most:

1. FireSmoke: experimental, predictive forecast model of smoke only. Heatmap-style; doesn't indicate monitoring stations

2. AirNow (USA): based on 24hr index, using algorithm that averages last 12hrs of measurements, many stations. Heatmap; doesn't show location of stations

3. BCGov: 1hr average, few stations; no permanent monitoring stations in the Okanagan

4. IQAir: real-time, moderate # of stations

5. PurpleAir: real-time, many stations (w/ confidence % of sensor & link status), can switch between Canadian & US AQI indices, & switch between μg/m³ of particulate matter or AQI scale

A series of screenshots of different air quality monitoring applications. Each app is zoomed into a map of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The top left corner shows the FireSmoke/BlueSky forecast app with a heat-map style map with a disclaimer stating it's an experimental predictive model. The top right shows the American AirNow app, showing a heat-map style map with a description of its algorithm that uses a 12-hour average of measurements. The bottom left shows PurpleAir's map with round icons at each monitoring site with the air quality index (AQI) number listed inside each icon. Beside it, is IQAir's map with similar round coloured icons showing the AQI number, but with less monitoring stations shown in the map. The IQAir map has a semi-transparent coloured layer overlaying it, to indicate the current air quality in your location. On the bottom right is the BC Government's app, showing a map with round coloured icons without an AQI number inside the icon, and far fewer monitoring stations. It includes a legend that shows a scale of µg/m³ of particulate matter that corresponds with each colour, and that the measurements are averaged over 1-hour time periods.
ALT
Screenshot from the PurpleAir application that shows information for an air quality monitoring station. When you click on the round icon for each station, the % confidence of data is shown on the bottom left side, and the link status to the sensor is shown as bars on the bottom right. A graph with the readings from past hours and average is also shown.
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Aug 21, 2023, 11:10 · · Tusky · 1 · 0
Janis La Couvée

@MidniteRain I find it so confounding that we couldn't at least have US and Canadian air quality indexes that use the same scales, particularly since the smoke from fires knows no boundaries.

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