On an average weekday, over 8,000 commutes are taken by freight trucks. The residents of Georgetown and South Park are all too familiar with smoke from freight trucks hauling cargo from the port to rail yards. Heavy duty trucks and other diesel engines are especially culpable. 4 It may come as a surprise that a majority of emissions, instead, originate from the city’s motor vehicles. Seattle PM2.5 pollution is often attributed to the large concentration of industrial facilities and seafaring ships in South Park and Georgetown. While success in meeting these annual targets reduces the health risk of Seattle residents, the WHO cautions that no level of PM2.5 exposure has been shown to be free of health impacts. In 2019, Seattle air quality averaged an annual PM2.5 concentration of 7.5 μg/m 3, meeting both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) standards for annual PM2.5 exposure. Why does Seattle have particulate matter in the air? Plan outdoor activities for times when air quality is in the US AQI “good” category. Seattle’s forecast air quality data is the best resource for understanding short-term trends in air quality. Follow Seattle’s changing air quality levels in real time at the top of this page. Pollution levels are subject to change based on a combination of conditions. The Port of Seattle’s Clean Truck program is working to increase truck carry loads to make these a more viable and accepted option. Heavy duty vehicles, such as those powered by diesel, are heavy polluters.

King County, meanwhile, is moving ahead with plans to adopt an all-electric fleet of 1,400 buses by 2040 as well as converting its ferry fleet to electric vessels. 2 This adoption goal is dependent on individual consumers, however, and may take longer than the proposed timeline. Seattle aims to reach an electric vehicle market share of 30 percent for privately owned electric vehicles by 2030. The advent and popularity of electric vehicles along with government incentives have already reduced some barriers to adaptation. These sources are responsible for nearly half of Seattle’s air pollution emissions. The emphasis of mitigation efforts should be on reducing Seattle emissions from mobile sources like cars and trucks. While these conditions are not all controllable, healthy air quality levels can be attained by managing what is controllable. Seattle air quality is the total of constant daily emissions, weather patterns, and pollution events. When will the air quality improve in Seattle? Shifting towards cleaner energy and more fuel-efficient and low-emission vehicles, clearing forest underbrush with prescribed fires, and further advancing limits on emission sources are all means that have the potential to again reduce Seattle air pollution levels within federal attainment levels. Driving Seattle’s declining air quality is a combination of population growth, new industry and construction, the increased frequency and severity of wildfires, and EPA rollbacks on a variety of emission sources.Ī growing population and economy does not need to be a reason for more emissions, however. Prior to the 2015 to 2017 monitoring period, Seattle had met federal attainment levels for the allowable number of “unhealthy” PM2.5 and ozone days. Since 2016, all key measures for PM2.5 and ozone pollution have been on the rise. More concerning is a trend of recently declining air quality in King county, of which Seattle is the county seat. Other days in Seattle tend to achieve “good” to “moderate” US AQI ratings. The frequency of Seattle’s pollution spikes is thereby more than double the targeted allowance.įrom a broader perspective, the 14.2 unhealthy pollution days represent just 4 percent of the year. 1 The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends no more than 3.2 unhealthy pollution days each year for each pollutant.

On average, Seattle experiences 14.2 unhealthy pollution days a year, with 7 owing to high ozone and 7.2 owing to high PM2.5. Despite “good” US AQI levels over recent years, Seattle failed to meet federal targets for allowable unhealthy ozone days and unhealthy PM2.5 days in 2019.

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