All this heat is baking a nasty meal for our lungs today, July 21, 2015.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has issued a “Code Orange Air Quality Alert,” which means sensitive groups — asthma sufferers, people with heart disease or lung conditions and the elderly — should avoid strenuous outdoor exertion.
According to AirNow.gov:
An Ozone Action Day has been declared! Ozone is forecast to reach the unhealthy for sensitive groups category across most of New Jersey due to light west winds, partly sunny skies, and hot temperatures. Sensitive individuals including the very young, the elderly, and persons with respiratory diseases such as asthma, should avoid strenuous outdoor activities during the afternoon and early evening hours. In addition, fine particles are forecast to reach the moderate category across the Garden State. July 22 – Good air quality will return across New Jersey as northwest winds bring a cleaner and drier air mass into the region.
Ozone in the upper atmosphere is good, shielding us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. However …
In the Earth’s lower atmosphere, near ground level, ozone is formed when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources react chemically in the presence of sunlight. Ozone at ground level is a harmful air pollutant.
