LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) - The American Lung Association's 2023 State of the Air report shows the Midstate has some ground to make up when talking about particle pollution.

"Particle pollution is microscopic bits of air pollution. It can be solid, liquid and come from all sorts of different sources," Kevin Stewart, the director of environmental health for the Lung Association, said.

The pollution can include metal fumes and acid gases in some cases.

Lancaster ranked inside the top 25 for the worst short-term particle pollution in the nation. Short-term means recordings over the span of 24 hours. This is data that is always being collected.

"There are two monitors in the county, and we also know that one of them out in what's called Lancaster downwind area tends to have higher levels of fine particle pollution that is even recorded in the city itself," Stewart said.

Lancaster County got an F for its particle pollution grade. Allegheny County was the only other area to receive a failing grade in the state.

How does a county fail?

"If you have ten bad air days that's an F," Stewart said.

Lancaster recorded 19 orange days in 2023, which falls under the "unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups" category.

With bad air quality comes health consequences.

"We do know that particle pollution in the United States kills tens of thousands of people every year," Stewart said.

Those with the highest risk are people who have cardiovascular disease. Others at risk are individuals with asthma. Particle pollution can cause lung cancer.

Lancaster, Dauphin and Cumberland Counties combined have over 105,000 people with asthma.