E-mail Forecasts of Unhealthy Air Quality

We send air quality forecasts to the media every work day. When we're forecasting unhealthy air quality, we also send these messages via e-mail to people on our airadvisory mailing list.

Quick start:
To get our e-mail forecasts of unhealthy air quality,

send an e-mail message to Majordomo@listserv.state.nj.us with one line in the message body (not in the subject): subscribe airadvisory
you'll get two messages in reply; copy the authorization line from the "Confirmation" message and send it as the only line in your message, back to Majordomo@listserv.state.nj.us

More detailed instructions with examples are given below. We have information about

what our forecasts of unhealthy air quality are
when we send the e-mail forecasts
how to subscribe, with examples
how to unsubscribe, with examples
what to do if you have trouble subscribing

What are the forecasts?
Every work day, we forecast air quality ratings for New Jersey and distribute the forecasts to TV and radio stations, newspapers, and news and weather services. The forecasts are available on our home page, along with current readings, and on our toll-free recording at 1-800-782-0160(currently unavailable).

Unhealthy air quality forecasts by e-mail When we're forecasting unhealthy air quality, we also post a message to our automated electronic mailing list. If you subscribe to the list, you'll receive these messages, telling

where in the state we expect the air to be unhealthy
when we're expecting the unhealthy levels
what you can do to
- limit your exposure to the unhealthy air
- reduce the amount of pollution you contribute
who to contact for more information

The only messages that are distributed to this list are forecasts or advisories of unhealthy air quality, and there are no charges for the subscription (beyond any phone costs you pay to get e-mail and fees you pay your on-line service or Internet Service Provider).

Ozone advisory logo When are unhealthy forecasts issued?
In New Jersey, unhealthy air quality occurs most often from May to September, when ground-level ozone, a major ingredient of smog, and very small particulates (soot and dust) build up under hot, sunny weather. Unhealthy air quality sometimes occurs during other times of the year when winds are light or temperature inversions trap pollution close to the ground.

Messages are sent to the list at the following times:

on work day mornings if unhealthy air quality is forecast for later in the day or for the following day
on work day afternoons if, when we did the morning forecast, we didn't expect the following day to be unhealthy but we do by the afternoon

If the following day is a weekend or holiday, our forecast covers all the days up to and including the next work day. So we'll send a message on a Friday if we expect unhealthy air quality for the following Sunday.

How do I subscribe?
There are two steps: requesting a subscription and authorizing the request.

Request a subscription by sending a subscribe command as the only text in the body of your e-mail message:

To: Majordomo@listserv.state.nj.us

From: (your address)

Subject:

Message: subscribe airadvisory
The list will send you two messages. The first one says you'll need to authorize the subscription request. The second one, "Confirmation for subscribe airadvisory", gives an authorization line:
```
	auth xx99xx9x subscribe airadvisory YOUR_ADDRESS@your_host.com
```
1. Copy the authorization line from your confirmation message
2. Reply to that message and use your authorization line as the message body (not the one shown here):
To: Majordomo@listserv.state.nj.us

From: (your address)

Subject:

Message: auth xx99xx9x subscribe airadvisoryYOUR_ADDRESS@your_host.com

The list will then let you know that your subscription has been added.

How do I unsubscribe?
If you want to stop receiving messages from the list, send an unsubscribe command as the only text in the body of your e-mail message:

To:	Majordomo@listserv.state.nj.us
From:	(your address)
Subject:
Message:	unsubscribe airadvisory

What if I have trouble subscribing or unsubscribing?
The software that manages the mailing list expects standard Internet e-mail messages. If you're having problems getting Majordomo to accept your request, it's likely that your "mailer" (the software you use to send messages) or a mail "gateway" at your service provider is adding extra text or using special encoding such as MIME or HTML on your messages. If your mailer has an option to turn off these encodings and send plain text instead, try using that option. If you still can't get through, just send us a message at bamweb@dep.state.nj.us and we'll take care of it from here.

If you have questions about this service that weren't answered here, contact us.

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