Historical Haze
Throughout Ohio's history, haze has been a problem. This photo from Steubenville in 1972 was taken on a day when fine particles (PM2.5) were at 700 µg/m3. In comparison, current standards from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency allow for an average of 35 µg/m3 over a 24-hour period and an average of 15 µg/m3 over a year. On the day this photo was taken daily life in Steubenville was affected by the air pollution: cars drove with their headlights on so that they could see, football games were cancelled because the quarterback could not see the receivers, and a drive-in movie theater was closed because light could not reach the movie screen.
Steubenville, Ohio, was one of the six cities included in Harvard's "Six Cities" air quality study that was key evidence in influencing the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt a health-based standard for particulates (dust) in air; a description of the research and its impact is here. The original study was published in 1993, but because it was so important to air quality policy, a completely different team of researchers re-analyzed the data in 2005 to confirm that the original conclusions were correct, and they were! Studying the pollution in Steubenville led to improvements in air quality in Ohio as well as the rest of the United States.
Cleveland Haze
Haze has been present through much of Cleveland's history. Here are some photos of what Cleveland and Youngstown looked like in the past.