IQAir Ranked Denver As Most Polluted Major City On Earth Saturday Afternoon
DENVER (CBS4) - The website IQAir.com, which tracks air quality for major cities around the world, listed Denver as the most polluted on the planet as of early Saturday afternoon. The AQI was listed as 162. Rounding out the top five list was Salt Lake City, Utah.
A large area of wildfire smoke from the Dixie Fire in California was to blame for the poor air quality across the west. Many locations from California to Colorado reported a visibility of 5 miles or less Saturday, indicating unhealthy levels of smoke in the air. The air quality in smaller cities and towns closer to the fire was even worse than in Denver.
The CDPHE issued an Air Quality Alert for the entire state of Colorado on Saturday, something that hasn't happened since air quality records of this nature started being kept in 2011. The smoke is expected to stick around into Sunday, although it may not be quite as thick in some areas.
