Michigan: Here’s How to Check Your Area’s Air Quality
Many Michigan residents woke up to smoke-filled, hazy air this morning. It’s only getting worse today, too. Yesterday (June 27), Detroit had the second worst air quality in the world. The chart only includes major cities, so outside of Detroit, many smaller Michigan cities also saw poor air quality, such as Lasing, Grand Rapids, Flint and other cities. Today (June 28), that trend continues, as Detroit still has the No. 2 worst air quality in the world. Now, there’s a map where you can find your local Michigan air quality.
What’s different today is that Detroit’s air quality is actually worse than Chicago. Yesterday, Chicago has the No. 1 worst air quality in the world. Today, Chicago is at No. 3. Dubai is at No. 1. These numbers are according to iqair.com. The next U.S. city to make the list is Minneapolis, Minnesota, at No. 4. Find the current list of the cities with the poorest air qualities here.
Michigan Air Quality:
So, what if you want to see exactly how your area is doing when it comes to air quality? The site IQAir.com has a map showing the air quality in your given state. When I currently look at the map, Detroit, by far, has the worst air quality index at 225. Other cities in danger include Lansing at 151, Grand Rapids at 191 and Toledo, Ohio, at 185. You can see your exact area by clicking the map here.
No matter where you are in Michigan, it appears the air quality is not good. The National Weather Service in Detroit states, “Wednesday June 28th has been declared an Air Quality Action Day for elevated levels of particulate matter (PM2.5) due to Canadian wildfire smoke moving in. Sensitive groups should limit prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion tomorrow.”
Michigan: What's Our Earthquake Danger Level? Use This Map
More on Loss Ratios across the US
While you might think of a handful of cities who are in danger of earthquakes, and those are on the West Coast, there is earthquake activity all around. “Although most economic loss is concentrated along the West Coast, the distribution of relative earthquake risk, as measured by the AELR, is much broader and reinforces the fact that earthquakes are a national problem,” FEMA says. “Relatively high earthquake loss ratios are throughout the western and central United States (states within the NMSZ) and in the Charleston, South Carolina, area.”
USA vector linear map. Thin line United States map.
The Big 55
You’ve heard of the Big Four, right? In metal music. Anyway, the Big 55 are the cities that experience the most earthquake activity. “Fifty-five metropolitan areas, led by the Los Angeles (including Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Anaheim) and San Francisco (including San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley) Bay areas, account for 85% of the total AEL,” FEMA says.
United States, geographic regions, colored political map. Five regions, according to their geographic position on the continent. Common but unofficial way of referring to regions of the United States.
