Code Orange air quality alert declared for southwestern Pennsylvania on Thursday

Southwestern Pennsylvania will be under a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day for ozone on Thursday.
Officials say hazy sunshine through low-level Canadian wildfire smoke, high temperatures and light southwest winds will produce significant ozone concentrations.
On air quality action days, young children, the elderly, and those with respiratory problems, such as asthma, emphysema, and bronchitis, are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution and should limit outdoor activities.
Residents and businesses within the Air Quality Action Day areas are strongly encouraged to voluntarily help reduce ozone air pollution by:
Driving less by carpooling or using public transportation;
Combining errands to reduce vehicle trips;
Limiting engine idling;
Refueling cars and trucks after dusk; and
Conserve electricity by setting air conditioning to a higher temperature and turning off lights that are not in use.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Business Wire

a day ago

• Business Wire

U-Haul Offers Disaster Relief After Derecho Hits North Dakota, Minnesota

FARGO, N.D.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--U-Haul ® is extending 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box ® container usage at seven centers across eastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota to residents affected by tornadoes that left a wide path of destruction Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday. U-Haul is extending 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box container usage at seven centers in North Dakota and Minnesota to residents impacted by the derecho. Share A derecho with winds exceeding 100 mph moved across numerous counties in both states, damaging properties and leaving thousands without power. There were multiple tornado sightings throughout the fast-moving storm system. Enderlin, N.D., located southwest of Fargo, and Bemidji, Minn., were among the communities hardest hit. Access to dry and secure self-storage and portable storage containers can be vital to communities during the clean-up and recovery process after natural disasters. The 30 days free offer applies to new self-storage and U-Box rentals and is based on availability. The U-Box offer is for on-site storage at Company centers, and for customers who tow their portable storage container. U-Box delivery and pick-up is also available for a modest cost. People seeking more information on the disaster relief program or needing to arrange storage services can contact the nearest participating U-Haul facility: NORTH DAKOTA U-Haul Moving & Storage of 13th Ave. 4901 13th Ave S. Fargo, ND 58103 (701) 205-3260 U-Haul Moving & Storage of Fargo 1436 Main Ave. Fargo, ND 58103 (701) 293-5256 U-Haul Moving & Storage of Osgood 5200 Veterans Blvd. Fargo, ND 58104 (701) 492-8900 U-Haul Storage of Fargo 610 42nd St. N. Fargo, ND 58102 (701) 639-7714 MINNESOTA U-Haul Moving & Storage of Moorhead 50 County Road 9 Dilworth, MN 56529 (218) 303-1480 U-Haul Storage of Nisswa 4745 County Road 77 Nisswa, MN 56468 (218) 963-5106 U-Haul Storage North Baxter 15237 Edgewood Dr. Brainerd, MN 56401 (218) 297-3018 In addition to its 30 days free self-storage disaster relief program, U-Haul is proud to be at the forefront of aiding communities in times of need as an official American Red Cross Disaster Responder. About U-HAUL Celebrating our 80th anniversary in 2025, U-Haul is the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers with more than 24,000 rental locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The U-Haul app makes it easy for customers to use U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 to access trucks anytime through the self-dispatch and -return options on their smartphones with our patented Live Verify technology. Our customers' patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to 193,900 trucks, 138,200 trailers and 40,300 towing devices. U-Haul is the third largest self-storage operator in North America and offers 1,060,000 rentable storage units and 92.0 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities. U-Haul is the top retailer of propane in the U.S. and the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry. Get the U-Haul app from the App Store or Google Play.

UPI

3 days ago

• UPI

Damaging, disruptive storms to target NYC, Philly and DC

Storm clouds move in behind One World Trade Center and the Manhattan skyline in New York City on Thursday. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo The same setup that brought close to 300 wind damage incidents and a dozen reports of tornadoes in the Midwest on Wednesday will focus on the Atlantic Seaboard from Quebec to the Carolinas into Thursday night, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. High humidity levels combined with a ripple in the jet stream will unleash one or more lines of thunderstorms that will progress from the Appalachians and Piedmont areas toward the Atlantic coast from Thursday afternoon to Thursday night. "As the storms approach the airports at the major metro areas from New York City to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., airline delays and ground stops will increase dramatically. Some flights may even be cancelled," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter stated. "Such delays and cancellations at these major airports have a tendency to spread quickly elsewhere in the United States air system because planes and crews are not where they need to be based on the existing schedule, resulting in cascading delays and cancellations." Motorists should be prepared for high water and sudden poor visibility as the storms approach. Roads that tend to flood during downpours should be avoided. Powerful wind gusts in many of the storms will average 60-70 mph. Due to the saturated ground in some areas, strong wind gusts during storms can easily push over trees or break off rotting limbs, leading to power outages. There will be an elevated risk of tornadoes in an area from upstate New York and northwestern New England to parts of central and eastern Quebec. This includes the major Canadian metro areas of Quebec City and Montreal, as well as Burlington, Vermont Albany, New York Pittsfield, Massachusetts and Lebanon, New Hampshire in the northeastern United States. A small number of the storms can also bring pea- to marble-sized hail, which, when combined with strong winds and torrential downpours, can damage crops in fields, plants in backyard gardens and other vegetation. As the storms creep along, flash flooding along small streams and urban areas can occur. Two or three storms may blast some locations into Thursday evening. Storms in the metro areas of Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia, as well as Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, may be somewhat more widely separated but can still be severe in some neighborhoods and lead to damage and travel disruptions into Thursday evening. Some thunderstorms and severe weather are also anticipated from South Carolina to Georgia, Florida and Alabama. However, a few storms in these areas can still pack a punch at the local level with brief wind gusts, torrential rain and a sudden cluster of lightning strikes. As a massive dome of heat builds from this weekend to next week, rounds of severe thunderstorms will erupt on the northern edge from the Midwest to parts of the Northeast.

Yahoo

4 days ago

• Yahoo

In the news today: Canadians facing extreme weather, major projects bill on track

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed... Extreme weather affected 1 in 4 people: poll Almost one in four Canadians were directly affected by extreme weather events over the past year, a new poll suggests. The Leger poll — released as Canada copes with its second-worst wildfire season on record — says 23 per cent of Canadians who responded said they were personally affected by extreme weather events like heat waves, floods, fires and tornadoes over the last 12 months. Among those who said they had felt the impacts of extreme weather, almost two-thirds reported being forced to stay indoors because of air quality concerns, while 39 per cent reported suffering emotional stress. Twenty-seven per cent of those who reported experiencing extreme weather said they had to postpone travel plans, while one-fifth said they suffered property damage. CO2 budget for 1.5 C could be exhausted in 3 years The world is on pace to emit enough greenhouse gas emissions over the next three years to blow by an international target to limit global warming to 1.5 C, according to a new study co-authored by a Canadian researcher who says the finding underlines the need for urgent transformational change. The study by more than 60 scientists says the 1.5-degree carbon budget – how much CO2 can be released while staying below that limit – sits at about 130 billion tonnes as of the start of 2025. At current levels, that budget would be exhausted in a little more than three years, the report said. Within the next decade, the budgets for 1.6 and 1.7 degree warming thresholds are at risk too, the report found. Concordia University professor Damon Matthews said "every increment matters" in the effort to avoid increasingly severe climate impacts, from thawing permafrost to raging wildfires. Major projects bill on track to soon clear House Running roughshod over the environment. Spawning the next Idle No More movement. Picking economic winners and losers. Prime Minister Mark Carney's Building Canada Act is anything if not a magnet for criticism. The Liberal government's controversial legislation that would let cabinet quickly grant federal approvals for big industrial projects like mines, ports and pipelines sailed through committee in the early hours of Thursday. A House of Commons panel sat from Wednesday afternoon to after midnight reviewing Bill C-5 in a hurried study, as the Liberal government seeks to pass it through the chamber by week's end. Disabilities groups ask Liberals to amend tax bill Advocacy groups are asking the federal Liberal government to adjust its proposed tax bill to ensure people with disabilities don't end up paying more to the Canada Revenue Agency. Inclusion Canada says it favours Ottawa lowering the lowest marginal tax rate from 15 to 14 per cent, as proposed in the bill that passed first reading earlier this month. However, the group says the unintended result of the change is that tax credits for people with disabilities will decrease in many cases. That's because the credit — used to reduce taxes payable — is generated by a formula that is tied to the marginal tax rate, and by dropping that rate to 14 per cent, the credit shrinks. Affordability challenges plaguing renters: report A new report suggests Canadian renters continue to face affordability challenges even as asking rent prices have fallen this year, while those considering the leap to home ownership are taking a wait-and-see approach. Royal LePage's 2025 Canadian renters report, which includes results from a survey conducted by Burson, found 37 per cent of renters in Canada spend between 31 and 50 per cent of their net income on monthly rent costs. The survey of more than 1,800 renters in early June indicated that 15 per cent of respondents were spending more than half of their income on rent, while 37 per cent were spending 30 per cent or less. Rents have eased for eight consecutive months, but remain well above historical norms, according to the report. Families fear memories of Air India bombing fading Rob Alexander's father wasn't supposed to be on Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985. "My mother had actually booked him on an Air France flight to go see his mother in India," recalled Alexander, who was in his teens at the time. "One of the guys that we knew, he worked for Air India and he wanted to sell my father a ticket very badly to get the commission or something. "Eventually, he agreed." Alexander recalled the small argument that ensued between his father and mother, and how she had to cancel his Air France ticket. An Ontario surgeon, Dr. Anchanatt Mathew Alexander boarded the flight in Toronto on the evening of June 22. Early the next morning, about 200 kilometres off the Irish coast, a bomb exploded, sending the Boeing 747 plunging 31,000 feet into the ocean and killing all 329 passengers and crew. The majority were Canadians. --- This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025 The Canadian Press