CAPITAL REGION, NY (WRGB) — An air quality health advisory has been issued by the Department of Environmental Conversation (DEC), State Department of Health (DOH).
The advisory is for fine particulate matter; the advisory is in effect for Long Island, New York City Metro, Lower Hudson Valley, Upper Hudson Valley, and Adirondacks regions due to the impact of smoke from wildfires in Canada.
The Upper Hudson Valley includes Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, and Washington counties.
The Adirondacks region includes Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, northern Herkimer, Lewis, St. Lawrence, and Warren counties.
The effect is from Saturday July 26 from 10 am to 11:59 a.m.
DEC and DOH issue Air Quality Health Advisories when DEC meteorologists predict levels of pollution, either ozone or fine particulate matter (PM2.5), are expected to exceed an Air Quality Index (AQI) value of 100.
The AQI was created as an easy way to correlate levels of different pollutants to one scale, with a higher AQI value indicating a greater health concern.