Air in California after fires still better quality than air in Beijing
Beijing’s air quality was at its worst level in a year-and-a-half on Wednesday, with some areas of Hebei Province and Beijing experiencing visibility of less than 50m
Beijing— Beijing’s air quality deteriorated to its worst in a year-and-a-half on Wednesday, with authorities forecasting it would be at least another day before conditions improve. Levels of the most-hazardous, tiny particulate matter — known as PM 2.5, which can lodge deep in a person’s lungs — soared to 288 as of noon in the Chinese capital, according to data published by the US Embassy in Beijing. That’s 11 times higher than the level the World Health Organisation says is the average level of healthy exposure in a 24-hour period. It’s also higher than PM 2.5 levels recorded in several Californian cities where the air has been affected by local wildfires. The reading was 161 in Napa Valley, 188 in Sacramento and 164 in San Francisco as of 11am Beijing time, the US government’s AirNow website showed. Beijing’s pollution levels, though high on Wednesday, are also significantly below heights reached earlier in the decade. The gauge reached 761 on March 22 2010, before a government ca...
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