Dec 9-12 Red Alert a Rumor, Air Quality's Gonna Be Fine (Or Will It)?
You think it's hard to guess whether tomorrow – or even this afternoon – will be polluted or not?
Seems that's the case with the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau and the Central Meteorological Observatory as well, proving that this business of air pollution forecasting is still not an exact science.
The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau announced last night (Dec 8) that an alleged Red Alert called for December 9 through 12 was only a rumor, and that actually the air quality will be relatively good this week.
"The December 8 Red Alert is false news. This coming week, the city's overall air quality is better, and there is currently no air pollution warnings in place" the piece reads.
A Red Alert is declared in Beijing when the AQI is forecasted to be over 200 for three or more consecutive days.
However, standards for what's considered okay here, as we know, are fairly low. The forecasting apps that we like to look at tell us to batten down the hatches and fire up the air filters. Airvisual has the air looking pretty crappy, as does aqicn.org and aqcast.com, Maybe not Red Alert crummy, but lung-searingly gross nonetheless.
Speaking of red alerts, adjustments to Beijing's four-tiered emergency air pollution warning system take effect Dec 15, raising the threshold of the most dire alert but increasing the number of cars to be banned from the road during the two highest alerts.
The new policy extends and slightly modifies a pilot adjustment that was first tested earlier this year, and extends beyond Beijing to formally apply to Tianjin and some of Beijing’s filthiest neighbors in surrounding Hebei (though each city will make its own decision about calling an alert).
RELATED: Your Complete Guide to Pollution in Beijing
Well, here's to hoping that everyone's wrong and a big ol' gust of wind makes the air something like what it is like for most of today, when despite the cold weather we threw our windows open for a little fresh air.
More stories by this author here.
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Photo: China Daily
