Posted in Oregon August 30, 2017 by

Oregon Currently Has The Worst Air Quality In The U.S. And Here’s Why

Here at Only In Oregon, we love acknowledging all of the reasons why it’s so wonderful to live in this amazing state. But just like any other place in our country, you sometimes have to take the good with the bad. Those of us living here may have recently noticed that things have been getting a bit hazy. Keep reading below to find out what’s going on with Oregon’s air quality as of late.

We’re aware that these uncertain times are limiting many aspects of life as we all practice social and physical distancing. While we’re continuing to feature destinations that make our state wonderful, we don’t expect or encourage you to go check them out immediately. We believe that supporting local attractions is important now more than ever and we hope our articles inspire your future adventures! And on that note, please nominate your favorite local business that could use some love right now: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/nominate/
You may remember that earlier this month it was determined that Portland's air quality was even worse than that of Shanghai's.
U.S. Department of Agriculture/Flickr
Aside from Portland, places like Albany, Ashland, Bend, Government Camp, Klamath Falls, Medford and Sweet Home all have air quality that is considered to be unhealthy.
Unfortunately things have continued to be smoggier than normal, with Oregon's overall air quality still continuing to worsen this month.
gcmenezes/Flickr
Smoke from fires in Northern California and Southern Oregon have polluted the air, specifically this week, creating unhealthy air quality in several areas throughout our state.
zervas/flickr
While we continue to hope for the best, for the time being residents of the Beaver State are forced to make due with the less than ideal circumstances for our air quality.
amanda/Flickr
To give you an idea of how bad of air quality certain areas of Oregon are currently experiencing, generally most places have a level of air quality that falls between 0 and 50 and is considered good. Right now Portland's Air Quality Index is at a moderate 64, with places like Grant Pass suffering from the highest Air Quality Index in our country at a "very unhealthy" level of 241. Yikes!

To view which areas of Oregon are experiencing the worst qualities of air and what the levels are, find out more information from the Department of Environmental Quality here.

Did you realize areas of Oregon were dealing with such terrible qualities of air? Let us know in our comments section if you’ve been affected by the recent haze that’s hitting our state.