Want to check out the air quality before deciding how to spend your day?

You can do so now a little more quickly than before through a new color-coded warning system.

The Partnership for a Smog-Free Georgia offers a web site with daily updates of the Air Quality Index. Nine scientists from Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division meets in cyberspace each day to review meteorological data, air quality information and traffic patterns.

But 2 p.m., the smog forecasts are completed and, if an AQI of more than 100 is predicted, a smog alert is issued by PSG.

You can retrieve the information by telephone or on the Internet. Phone numbers are 404-362-4909 or 800-427-9605. The web site is at www.ga-psg.org.

The color code is immediately visible on the web site.

The code is as follows:

Green = good; Yellow = moderate; Orange = unhealthy for sensitive groups; Red = unhealthy to everyone for long exposure; Purple = very unhealthy for all groups.

The code is in use nationwide, developed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

“We support this EPA initiative because the color system makes it easier for the public to quickly understand the health message,” said Jeane Pierce, coordinator for PSG, the employer services partner of the Clean Air Campaign.

Participating employers are encouraged to set up work site commute options so that their employees use their automobile less when the air is more polluted.

Starting July 3, the information also will be available on the Clean Air Campaign's web site at www.cleanaircampaign.org.