Christmas Rain Improved The Air Quality In Metro Phoenix

By Nakiesha Johnson
Published: Thursday, December 26, 2019 - 1:19pm

a rainbow
Christina Estes/KJZZ
A rainbow in central Phoenix on Dec. 24, 2019.

The rain that fell on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day has helped the Phoenix area's air quality, with both days staying well below the federal health standard. That’s according to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

“We’ve seen periods of rain, periods of breezes and that really helps to flush out the atmosphere so even where we’re looking at Christmas Day itself, yesterday, here in Phoenix we actually came in with a PM2.5 value at 59AQI which is the lowest value that we’ve seen since records go back to 2010," said meteorologist Matt Pace.

Although the air quality is better than what Arizona typically sees this time of year, Pace says residents are still encouraged to make efforts to limit pollution.

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