About Spare the Air

Air pollution is a serious public health concern. Although the Bay Area is one of the cleanest of the major California air basins, there are still days when air pollution exceeds the federal and state health-based air quality standards.

Bay Area Air Quality Management District has established two voluntary programs that educate residents about the effects of air pollution and encourage them to take action to improve air quality in the Bay Area.

Spare the Air (Summer)
During the summer months, ozone pollution can become a health problem in the Bay Area. The summertime Spare the Air program notifies residents when air quality is forecast to be unhealthy, and urges residents to drive less and reduce their emissions of ozone-forming pollutants.

Spare the Air Tonight (Winter)
During the winter months, levels of particulate matter can become unhealthy. The wintertime Spare the Air Tonight program notifies residents when particulate levels are anticipated to be high, and urges them not to burn wood in their fireplaces and woodstoves.

As part of the Spare the Air and Spare the Air Tonight programs, the following pages provide useful air quality information for Bay Area residents:

Five Day Forecast
The five-day forecast page uses the AQI scale (see link below) to provide an extended look at air quality in the Bay Area.

Air Quality Index (AQI)
This simple, color-coded scale is used on our forecast pages to indicate the health impacts of predicted pollution concentrations.

Ozone Movies
During the summer Spare the Air season, these animated maps use the AQI scale to provide a dynamic daily summary of the buildup of ozone concentrations in the Bay Area.