麻城昨天气压多少？
aQi 108，so we have high-level ozone in our atmosphere. Ozone is good at absorbing UV radiation before it reaches the surface of the earth and causes skin cancer and other problems... so this morning I’m feeling especially lucky to be alive on such a pleasant day (66°F/19°C) after the record-setting heat wave that just passed us by.
The air quality index for today is estimated around 500. That means too much smog or pollution in the air for us to go outside without wearing some kind of mask or breathing apparatus. Yesterday was even worse with an AQI over 700！ The highest it has ever been in many people's lifetime here in northern China。 This is because we are having a super hot， dry summer that is perfect for haze formation. The main source of pollution is from burning coal and oil in power plants and cars as well as from dust storms in desert regions very far away（the Gobi Desert）. There are actually two haze episodes in Beijing now， one in each half of the city， but the bad air is moving around like a giant pendulum and soon will cover the whole city again.
Last year， when there were also two major hazes in Beijing， I wrote about how to cook during these times：you need to buy an air purifier for your home(about $300-$400 can get you a pretty decent one)， stay indoors as much as possible， and do your laundry outdoors instead of in the machine if you can（the washing machines in my apartment right now aren't working so I am doing mine by hand）. You must wear masks any time you go out， even during daytime hours. And don't forget to keep your windows closed. Last year's episode lasted about three weeks.
This year's first episode started June 2nd and had already lasted five days by yesterday. Usually the air quality is not reported until the next day， since it takes 24 hours for pollutants to travel from the place where they are emitted to the nearest monitoring station. Yesterday the local government officially warned us that the air level was “severe”， which in Chinese translation literally means more than 500。 So all the suggestions above still apply - except maybe for the laundry part， though that was really bad last year.