Summer air quality met health-based standards for the first time since 2016

Spokane-area residents breathed the healthiest air this past summer since 2016.

In a news release sent out Tuesday, the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency said summer air quality met health-based standards, allowing residents to breathe healthy air for the first time since 2016.

Mark Rowe, air quality monitoring manager at the agency, said in the news release he credits the good air quality to a couple of key factors, including having a mild wildfire year and wind patterns that worked in the area’s favor.

“Wildfire activity in Oregon and southern and central Idaho, on the other hand, was above average this summer. Smoke from regional wildfires, including the Pioneer and Swawilla fires in Washington – the most significant with regards to Spokane’s air quality this summer – was for the most part steered away from Spokane or remained aloft,” Rowe said in the release.

Spokane’s highest summer PM2.5 (fine smoke particles) for a 24-hour average was 82, or moderate on the Air Quality Index, which occurred Aug. 3.

A 24-hour average AQI over 100 fails the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particle pollution.