This was at AJC.com:
Metro area's violated air standards 13 days
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/25/08
By 1 p.m. Wednesday, smog levels had started creeping toward the red zone, when the air quality is considered unhealthy for most people.
The highest eight-hour measurement of ground-level ozone, an ingredient in smog, was 56 parts per billion in Douglasville. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers ozone unsafe at levels above 75 parts per billions. Smog enters code red at 96 parts per billion.
At that level, public health officials advise people to confine their workouts to indoors, or do their outdoor exercise in the morning or late evening. Ground-level ozone, a colorless gas formed when manmade emissions mix with the heat, can be particularly bad for people with asthma and other lung and heart diseases.
The state's air quality forecasters had expected Tuesday's air quality to enter the red zone. While smog levels did violate the EPA's limit in Conyers, south Dekalb County, central Gwinnett County and McDonough, they did not reach the red zone.
Forecasters issued an orange alert for Thursday's air quality, which would be another violation of the EPA standard. As of Wednesday afternoon, the region had violated the EPA standard on 13 days, starting May 6.
Note: I have a link to the current smog levels for Douglasville on my blogroll, which is in the right-hand column of my blog. Currently the one hour average is 65 (just 10 parts per billion BELOW unsafe levels) and the eight hour average is 61.
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