Pollution (again)

I thought I was being slightly apocalyptic in my last post about pollution.  I mean, usually Shanghai's pollution levels aren't so bad.  "It's not nearly as bad as Beijing!" say the Shanghai residents, reassuring ourselves that while the air here isn't great, it certainly could be worse.

Unfortunately the pollution gods seem to have taken it as a challenge.   PM2.5 AQI levels climbed and climbed across the east coast of China, covering the cities in a gray shroud of smog.  The AQI levels in Shanghai crossed 500 for the first time in recorded history, to a level literally off the charts.

Not ok.  

Pollution levels are color-coded by hazard level.  

That's showing over a day and a half at the highest level.

Related: China's suffocating blanket of smog even visible from space