The MD Department of Environment has issued a CODE ORANGE Air Quality Alert Saturday, May 25 for parts of the area- particularly from the eastern DC suburbs through Baltimore and points north, according to the Maryland Department of Environment.
Per the MD Department of Environment: “A regional airmass has quickly degraded as of Friday afternoon with ozone concentrations pushing into the upper Moderate range across a wide region. This airmass will be recirculating across Maryland Saturday, allowing the airmass to further degrade into the heavily traveled holiday weekend.
Afternoon winds Saturday will recirculate to be from the south, pushing afternoon ozone concentrations highest over Baltimore City and points north, but USG ozone remains possible from DC northeastward to northeastern Maryland and over the Bay. There are scattered clouds tomorrow to act as a mitigating factor as well as an isolated chance of early storms across the Maryland Piedmont, but sufficient sun should support 8-hour ozone rising to the USG category.
Moving to Sunday, currently lots of dry time is expected, with unsettled conditions increasing through the afternoon. Primarily air quality in the Moderate AQI is expected due to fine particles and isolated pockets of ozone where sufficient sun persists.
Unsettled conditions are anticipated for Monday, keeping air quality in the Good AQI range. Slightly cooler and drier air arrives Tuesday and persists Wednesday. Gusty winds will be prevalent though abundant sunshine also returns for the start of another workweek. In the strong sunlight, ozone will likely respond to the upper Good to lower Moderate AQI range both Tuesday and Wednesday. For the latest air quality information, please visit our website here.”