Apples and oranges, right? Pittsburgh is much smaller than the MSA as a whole.

Off the top of my head, a lot of the problem areas aren't in the city, though they're close. Braddock, Clairton, Neville Island (with particulates floating over to Avalon) all come to mind as places with pollution-y manufacturing, and they're all outside the city limits.

If the app's coverage goes all the way through Allegheny County my point is diminished, though.

Also worth noting that, even though our air might not be great, it was SO BAD before that anything toady is going to be better by comparison.

This is true, but given the right conditions, those of us that live in the city can definitely notice bad air quality days. I live in the East End, a stone's throw from the Allegheny, and if the wind is blowing right, there is a distinct sulfur smell in the air.

Also worth noting that, even though our air might not be great, it was SO BAD before that anything toady is going to be better by comparison.

Yes, this is definitely true.

SF has much worse air quality than Pittsburgh though, actually

https://qz.com/963089/california-is-home-to-eight-of-the-10-...

Preemptive plea: Please don't shoot the messenger by downvoting me for sharing this demonstrably factual information with you (I know it's coming, I know how this site works now).

I always found the frequent sewage scent wafting up from the bowels of the streets in San Francisco very startling. Usually around Embarcadero and SOMA regions.

> Preemptive plea: Please don't shoot the messenger by downvoting me for sharing this demonstrably factual information with you (I know it's coming, I know how this site works now).

Chance of that is higher if you don't talk about downvoting. A number of people will downvote you just for that.

A lot of the PM2.5 (the kind of pollution mentioned in the link offered by parent) in the Bay Area is from houses and apartments burning wood.

Source: http://www.ozy.com/acumen/think-chinas-pollution-is-bad-try-...

FWIW Here is a direct comparison [1] between the Metro Stat Areas (MSA) of 'San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA' and 'Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV'

[1] http://www.stateoftheair.org/2015/city-rankings/compare-your...

You're being downvoted for at least two reasons. One, you are off topic, and trying very hard to be inflammatory, and two, because whining about downvotes is, itself, pollution.

I _am_ on topic, we are discussing air pollution, and most people I talk to around here are mistakenly under the impression that SF is this paragon of air quality, so mine is a pretty high entropy post sharing an interesting and not commonly known fact that often surprises people.

Meanwhile, you're attaching unfounded emotion to my post through projection (I've been sitting here the whole time with a perfectly chillaxed and even slightly amused attitude); my post has had a non-negative score its entire lifetime -- only one person downvoted it (you?), so I'm more inclined to believe that somebody else that is not me is the problem here.