Air quality in Seattle seems to be deteriorating

It was a long time ago that I lived near Seattle, kind of in that weird gray area between Burien and Seattle, and even in those days, we complained about the air quality. Of course, if you were looking for the Mecca for smog in the United States, it would always be Los Angeles. But Seattle was not doing too bad in the smog area either. 

Now it appears that air quality in Seattle is deteriorating even more. 

According to axios.com,
‘The average percentage of fine particle pollution in the Seattle metro area, which includes Bellevue and Tacoma, increased from 6.28 micrograms per cubic meter in 2014-16 to 7.4 micrograms in 2021-23, per the EPA. ‘

An interesting statistic. Apparently, Seattle's pollution is 10% more than other U.S. cities of the same size. This would be because of the increased industry and also transportation corridors through the middle of the city. 

Another big concern, especially over the last couple of years, is smoke from wildfires. Whether the fire is on the West side of the mountains or the east side of the mountains, the smoke is going to get over there and it's no fun. We here in Wenatchee know a lot about that. 

So that's the bad news. Now for the worse news. This problem is only going to Increase. As the population increases, the traffic increases, as things get drier in the state there will be more wildfires. I'm sorry, it's not a pretty picture. 

Years ago, when I was in high school, I went on tour with a singing group called the Continental Singers. During the summer we toured all across the West Coast, up into Alaska and British Columbia. During our concert each night our tour director Steve Hilson would always tell the same joke about living in Los Angeles. He would say something like this. “I love LA, I love to get up early in the morning, open my bedroom window and listen to the birds, cough.” (it's all in the delivery.) 

The best thing you can do is try to track the air quality Index. 

Try using the link below to get real time information for your area.
Seattle Air Quality Index (AQI) and USA Air Pollution | IQAir 

Seattle has 17% more air pollution than 10 years ago - Axios Seattle
LA wildfires: What's missing from AQI