Dust Likely
Daily PM2.5 peaked at 98.6 µg/m³ near Pittsburgh across 2 covered metros home to 3.6 million people. 1 metro placed a top-ten day in their record.
Counting the extra PM2.5 above each metro's typical day, this event handed the average affected resident ≈ 6.9 cigarettes. Across everyone living in the affected metros, that is the collective equivalent of ≈ 25 million cigarettes. An awareness illustration of outdoor exposure at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette (Berkeley Earth), counting only the event's ranked days; not a medical dose.
Why we think this happened
A peer-reviewed regional analysis identifies May 1-4, 2001 as one of three statistically extreme dust events across the northeastern United States, tracks probable Asian dust across the region on May 2-4, and documents substantial mixing with anthropogenic sulfate. The supplied Pittsburgh-Buffalo episode falls exactly inside that window.
Likely Applicable reporting or a supported inference makes this the best current causal explanation.
Journal of Geophysical Research / AGU · Jun 1, 2004 corroborates
The peer-reviewed study defines May 1-4, 2001 as a statistically extreme regional dust episode, tracks probable Asian dust over the northeastern United States during the supplied dates, and reports that the plume also contained substantial anthropogenic sulfate.
See every retained source and limitation ↓
Sequence: Pittsburgh (May 2) → Buffalo (May 4)
Evidence path
A cause is more convincing when the record connects three things: something happened, the air mass moved toward the region, and local instruments responded. Here is how much of that chain is documented for this event.
Source or mechanism
The peer-reviewed study defines May 1-4, 2001 as a statistically extreme regional dust episode, tracks probable Asian dust over the northeastern United States during the supplied dates, and reports that the plume also contained substantial…
View supporting source ↗Air-mass movement
The retained record does not yet show how air traveled from the proposed source to these metros. A trajectory replay or dated plume analysis belongs here.
Local response
EPA monitors recorded the event across 2 metros. The peak daily concentration is roughly 4.5 cigarette-equivalents at the outdoor daily rate.
Inspect the pollutant and weather signals ↓Event autopsy
Before, during, and after the episode: nearby pollutant monitors and surface-weather stations show what changed. This context tests the “Dust” explanation; it does not assign the cause by itself.
Pittsburgh, PA
Monitor comparison window 2001-04-29 to 2001-05-07 · PM2.5 target: Liberty
95% above nearby days
58% higher than surrounding days
95% higher than surrounding days
58% higher than surrounding days
16% higher than surrounding days
About the same as surrounding days
58% higher than surrounding days
About the same as surrounding days
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY
Monitor comparison window 2001-04-29 to 2001-05-07 · PM2.5 target: SIMON STREET
24% above nearby days
About the same as surrounding days
9% higher than surrounding days
24% higher than surrounding days
9% higher than surrounding days
14% higher than surrounding days
16% higher than surrounding days
18% higher than surrounding days
21% higher than surrounding days
About the same as surrounding days
6% higher than surrounding days
About the same as surrounding days
Source: U.S. EPA AirData daily observations and, where available, nearby ASOS/AWOS surface observations. Values are descriptive medians over the retained monitor set; missing measurements remain missing. Transport and source evidence remain separate layers because this instrument pattern does not assign a cause by itself.
Episode peak
-- cigarettes
The smoke map's scale, replayed over this event: the surface interpolates between covered metros' daily records, framed to the affected region. Hover for a reading, click a metro to pin it to the card. Days a monitor did not report draw nothing.
Views from the selected metro
Select a metro on the map to see nearby cameras. Where an operator archive reaches the event, drag the divider to compare two moments, adjust either date and time, or play the available event-day frames. Camera imagery is visual context, not an air-quality measurement or proof of smoke.
No useful public camera views are currently available within 80 km of this metro.
| Metro | Peak PM2.5 | Cigarettes, whole event | Peak day | All-time standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh, PA | 98.6 µg/m³ | 11.4 | May 3, 2001 | #5 of its top days |
| Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY | 43.2 µg/m³ | 2.0 | May 4, 2001 | #18 of its top days |
"Cigarettes, whole event" totals a metro's ranked event days at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette: what a person outdoors there breathed across the event, as the illustration. "All-time standing" is where this episode's days sit in each metro's ranked record (worst-area measure, since 1999). Full local context is on each metro's Air Records page.
Public evidence library
Each card states what a source supports—and what it does not. Official records, research, reporting, community observations, and transparent inferences remain visibly different kinds of evidence.
U.S. EPA HERO
EPA's HERO catalog independently preserves the study and its regional pollution-and-dust attribution.
Context for the event; this item does not establish the attributed cause by itself.
This is a catalog record for the same underlying study, not an independent scientific analysis.
Journal of Geophysical Research / AGU
The peer-reviewed study defines May 1-4, 2001 as a statistically extreme regional dust episode, tracks probable Asian dust over the northeastern United States during the supplied dates, and reports that the plume also contained substantial anthropogenic sulfate.
A retained source supports the attributed cause for the stated place and dates.
The study documents a regional plume rather than source-apportioning the individual Pittsburgh and Buffalo daily monitor values.
Likely Applicable reporting or a supported inference makes this the best current causal explanation.
This episode was grouped from the monitor record by the catalog pipeline and given its cause from the evidence listed above. It has not been individually reviewed and signed off, so its boundaries, cause, and name may change as evidence accumulates. Grouping policy common_sense_root_cause_grouping.v2. The cause label reflects the assembled evidence above, not an IAQng detection formula. If it is wrong, tell us.