ARL News

ARL products now in routine use for Washington, DC, air quality forecasting

 

June 29, 2001

The Washington area Council of Governments sponsors an air quality forecasting program for the area. The outputs are widely promoted, and are regularly mentioned in both the press and broadcast news. The forecasts are based on statistical relationships between air quality and key contributing variables, often conveniently summarized in a “stagnation index.” Now, the capability has been enhanced by considering the origins of the air that passes over the DC area. Obviously, if the air comes from a region of high emissions of pollutants, air quality downstream will tend to be worse. This new information is derived routinely from the ARL “READY” web site. Scrutiny of users of the READY site indicates that the DC area is not alone in using the ARL products in air quality forecasting. North Carolina features prominently, for example.

Contact information: Glenn D. Rolph
Phone: (301) 713-0295 x134
e-mail: glenn.rolph@noaa.gov