Fort Air Partnership (FAP), the organization that monitors the air local residents breathe, released 2022 first quarter Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) results today. The Government of Alberta calculates the AQHI using data collected at seven of FAP’s air monitoring stations.
Results show that AQHI in the Airshed was of low risk to health at least 89% of the time for the first three months of 2022, with Lamont County and Elk Island recording the highest percentage of low risk readings and Fort Saskatchewan the lowest. Risk to health increases as the index rises.
There were zero hours of high or very high AQHI rating for the calendar quarter.
Results from the first quarter of 2022 are very similar to the 2021 first quarter results. In 2021, there was only one hour of high AQHI rating for the first quarter. The high risk occurrence was due to a wintertime temperature inversion, a weather condition where cold air along with pollutants is trapped near the ground by a layer of warmer air above.
For further details: 2021 Q1 Air Monitoring Results