How Does Understanding Air Quality Index Work?

The Air Quality Index (or AQI) is like a scorecard that tells us how clean or dirty the air around us is.

Imagine you're playing outside, and you can see the sky clearly, that means the air is good. But if it's hazy and you can barely see your friend across the playground, that means the air isn't so great. The AQI helps us know how clean or dirty the air is by giving us a number from 0 to 500.

The AQI uses different colors to show how healthy the air is:

• Green (like grass) means the air is very good.
• Yellow (like a sunny day) means it’s okay but not perfect.
• Orange (like a juicy fruit) means the air is getting worse.
• Red (like a fire truck) means the air is quite bad.
• Purple (like grape juice) means the air is really bad.

Each color helps us decide if we should play outside, stay inside, or wear a mask. It’s like having a weather forecast for our lungs!