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SALT LAKE CITY -- Call it smog, haze or the winter inversion -- you've probably noticed how bad the air is outside. But how bad is it really?
The Department of Environmental Quality issued a "red" air alert. According to AIRNow.gov -- a website that that offers real-time Air Quality Index conditions for over 300 cities across the US -- Utah will be home to four of the top 5 worst cities for air quality Tuesday.
In downtown Salt Lake City Monday morning, people walking in the bad air wanted to get out of it quickly.
| What's in the Air? |
|---|
| Smog is a kind of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Modern smog comes from vehicular and industrial emissions that are acted on in the atmosphere by sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emissions.
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| How is it so bad? |
| Usually, the air near the surface of the Earth is warmer than the air above it. Under an inversion, the normal vertical temperature gradient is inverted such that the air is colder near the surface of the Earth. The air becomes stiller, hence the air becomes murky because dust and pollutants are no longer lifted from the surface. This can become a problem in cities where many pollutants exist. Here the mountains, together with the inversion, bottle-caps the air in the city. |
| What are the health risks? |
| Smog continues to harm human health. The pollutants in the air are especially harmful for senior citizens, children, and people with heart and lung conditions such as emphysema, bronchitis, and asthma. It can inflame breathing passages, decrease the lungs' working capacity, cause shortness of breath, pain when inhaling deeply, wheezing, and coughing. It can cause eye and nose irritation and it dries out the protective membranes of the nose and throat and interferes with the body's ability to fight infection, increasing susceptibility to illness. |
"It's hard to breathe," he says. "I'm a big guy as it is, and I have a hard time breathing most of the time anyway -- but this makes it a little worse."
"For me, it's just harder to breathe," says Kyle Moffet.
Moffet is a high-performance athlete. He says trying to train on read air days is difficult and unhealthy.
"That inversion is so bad down there. I've tried running in it, and it's awful," Moffet says.
The Utah Department of Environmental Quality issued a red air alert Monday. People with breathing problems like asthma, young kids and older people should stay indoors.
"The inversion is just getting worse, and it's trapping the pollution, and it's making it unhealthy for sensitive people," says Donna Spangler, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.
The inversion is a problem we see every winter. The cold air gets trapped under warm air, and the mountains act like the sides of a bowl.
"You're basically putting a lid on the pollution, and that's why it seems really foggy and icky outside," Spangler says.
Doctors say air pollution can do a number on your health. Dr. Brian Moench, with the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, says the effects of bad air are similar to those from tobacco smoke.
"On a day like today, that effect is even more profound, and it's more comparable to if you were actively smoking yourself," Moench says.
Doctors say there are microscopic pollutants in our bad air, including toxic chemicals that can have a negative impact on our lungs and overall health.
"[It's] almost impossible to overstate what a public health consequence this can be," Moench says.
This bad air is dependent on the weather. A storm system would blow out the pollution, and luckily one is expected to arrive Tuesday.
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Story compiled with contributions from Anne Forester and Andrew Adams.
