DEQ meteorologists keep tabs on temperature, wind, ozone and other factors to determine air quality across the state. On days when the air hits a certain pollution threshold, the agency issues a county-by-county Air Quality Health Advisory. Those let people who could be affected — like elderly Oklahomans or people with asthma — know to stay inside if they can.
After the first Awesome Air Alert in June, Erin Hatfield with the DEQ explained why this was an important move.
“There are a lot of factors for an Air Quality Health Advisory, which we tend to see this time of year,” Hatfield said in June. “It's due to a lot of sunshine, high temperatures, not a lot of wind. It gets a little stagnant, and we have that formation of ozone.”
It's an Awesome Air Alert Day, #Oklahoma! You know what to do. #Environment #AirQuality #KeepAnEyeOnYourAQI pic.twitter.com/t9iZZN0mwV
— Oklahoma DEQ (@OklahomaDEQ) September 17, 2024
But Hatfield said Oklahoma also sees plenty of good air days. The DEQ doesn’t want people to look at its social media page and think it’s all doom and gloom.
“We thought it was really important to balance that out and let people know: yes, while we have issued air quality health advisories, we're also going to tell you when it's a great day to get outside,” Hatfield said.
The first ever statewide Awesome Air Alert came on June 21, before Oklahoma headed into a months-long stretch of lower air quality days. But the DEQ finally issued its second Awesome Air Alert on Sept. 17th and hopes to issue many more.
You can sign up to receive text or email notifications about Air Quality Health Advisories on the DEQ’s website. Awesome Air Alerts are issued through the department’s social media pages.
