Collaborative Effort Improves Ozone Air Quality Forecasts

Improved ozone air quality forecasts can make a real difference in people's lives, especially children and people with asthma or other respiratory problems.

EPA scientists working with scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have enhanced and expanded air quality forecasts to better serve more regions of the United States. Forecast information for ground-level ozone that has been available for the northeastern United States will now include areas from just east of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Hour-by-hour forecasts, through midnight the following day, are available online , providing information for the onset, severity and duration of poor air quality to more than 180 million people.

"Poor air quality concerns us all-whether living in a city or in the country. Pollutants can originate nearby or can be carried many miles from their sources," said Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), director of the NOAA National Weather Service.

"This tool will help improve ozone air quality forecasts, and that can make a real difference in people's lives, especially children and people with asthma or other respiratory problems," said Jeff Holmstead, EPA's Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.

The scientists' work has resulted in enhancements in output data availability, updated pollutant emissions data, and improved forecast algorithms.

See the NOAA Web site for additional information.

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Collaborative Effort Improves Ozone Air Quality Forecasts

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