Air Quality Alerts: What Seems to be Working and What Can We Do Better?

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is the air quality alerting agency for the state of Minnesota. Since 2021, Minnesota has experienced two seasons that have broken records for both the number and severity of air quality alerts issued. Despite many Minnesotans becoming all-too-familiar with the Air Quality Index (AQI), there remains challenges with how air quality information is communicated. This talk will highlight some ways the MPCA is working to improve the visibility and messaging surrounding air quality alerts. This includes collaboration with the National Weather Service, The Forest Service, local media partners, local governments, emergency management, and other state agencies inside and outside of Minnesota. This talk will highlight some novel tools developed at MPCA to help with the creation and transmission of air quality alerts and air quality forecasts. Finally, this talk will also highlight some challenges experienced with dealing with frequent air quality alerts, including the lack of VTEC code, confusion over the EPA’s Nowcast vs daily AQI values, and how to articulate the impacts of long duration air quality alerts.