Bay Area air quality sees dramatic improvement in only 24 hours

As people stay at home and off the roads in compliance with shelter-in-place guidelines set in motion two weeks ago, the air quality throughout the Bay Area has become cleaner, a small silver lining in an otherwise worrisome time.

In parts of the North Bay and South Bay, the the Air Quality Index (AQI) dipped into the single digits as seen in Gilroy, Sebastopol, and Napa. (Scores between 0 and 50 are labeled “good” by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.) Thursday AQI scores “were recorded at nine in Napa, eight in Vallejo, and nine in San Martin (a drop from 39, 37 and 34, respectively, on Wednesday)” reports ABC 7.

In San Francisco, the AQI on Thursday was 19, which is a major plummet from 37 on Wednesday. And over in West Oakland, the score went from 37 to 13 in only 24 hours.

In addition to the decline in vehicular commuters, rainy and windy weather has helped tidy up our air quality.

“Weather is the driving factor in our air quality,” said Kristine Roselius, a spokesperson for the BAAQMD. “Rain and wind helped clean the air out.”

Roselius also notes that the lack of cars on the road played a major factor. “We’ve also seen a 70 percent reduction in the numbers of automobiles on our road which have reduced emission particulates and CO2.”

The clean air trend can be seen throughout California, most notably in Los Angeles where the air quality, a common topic of conversation, has been green for nearly three straight weeks on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index.

“We’re seeing very clean air all around California,” Bill Magavern, policy director with the Coalition for Clean Air, told Curbed LA. “This time of year we usually have better air, especially with the rain, but the drop-off in traffic has definitely reduced emissions.”