Air Quality

When the air quality forecast is Code Red, it’s unhealthy for everybody. Everyone should minimize strenuous outdoor activities, and children and those with respiratory ailments like asthma or emphysema should stay indoors.

Code Orange means unhealthy air for sensitive groups like children and those with respiratory and heart ailments. People in these groups should limit prolonged or strenuous outdoor activities.

When air quality is considered moderate, it is designated Code Yellow.

Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting outdoor activity, and everyone should consolidate trips, limit engine idling, and conserve electricity.

Code Green air quality is good, and to keep it that way, we all should make a habit of carpooling, vanpooling, taking transit, biking or walking or teleworking whenever possible – particularly during the ozone season, April through September.

For more information on air quality visit the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) website.