{"id":6431,"date":"2017-07-05T18:53:28","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T10:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/?p=6431"},"modified":"2026-03-10T02:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:53:30","slug":"is-air-better-in-the-summer-is-it-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/blog\/is-air-better-in-the-summer-is-it-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Air Better in the Summer? Is It Safe?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

During the winter pollution season in Beijing, everyone people get worried about the air pollution. I heard about this so much that I decided to make a meme out of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Winter<\/p>\n

But I see people who seem to think pollution takes a vacation for the summer. Take as an example this Zhihu<\/span><\/a> user who asked how to store a purifier for the summer when it\u2019s not needed<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What The Data Says<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

Are people right that winter air pollution is worse than the summer? And is it safe? We analyzed data on small particles in the air (PM2.5<\/a>) from the US Embassy in Beijing. The data covers 2008-2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news: <\/b>First, people\u2019s intuition is right. The winter is worse. Beijing\u2019s winter averages <\/span>104<\/span> micrograms (ug\/m3) versus <\/span>81<\/span> in the summer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The bad news:<\/b> \u201cBetter\u201d is still far from \u201csafe.\u201d Beijing\u2019s average is still 3 times above the World Health Organization\u2019s 24-hour limit<\/span><\/a> (25 micrograms) and 9 times the annual limit (10 micrograms).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Midsummer Bump<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

There\u2019s another weird trend in the data. See that bump in June and July? The summer is better, but Beijing consistently sees worse pollution in June and July.<\/span><\/p>\n

We analyzed PM2.5 in 10 major cities across China, and the trend was the same\u2013better in summer, but still unsafe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This isn’t just a China story. We found the same pattern when we analyzed pollution levels in Delhi.<\/p>\n

\"Monthly<\/p>\n

While the summer skies are bluer, it doesn\u2019t mean the air is safe. Summers also see increases in ozone air pollution<\/a> because ozone forms more when temperatures are high<\/a> and sunlight is strong<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A lot of air-breathers put away their masks in the summer, but if you see me on the streets of Beijing this July, you\u2019ll see me wearing a mask!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the winter pollution season in Beijing, everyone people get worried about the air pollution. I heard about this so much that I decided to make a meme out of it.\u00a0 But I see people who seem to think pollution takes a vacation for the summer. Take as an example … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1035,"featured_media":6447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"5165,9273,5597,9346,9714,9793","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-pollution","category-air-pollution-health-effects","resize-featured-image"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6431"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41249,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6431\/revisions\/41249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}