Air quality was (cough) horrific

As you probably already surmised, the air quality levels were at record levels across the Inland Northwest last week.

Air pollution is measured by the Air Quality Index, which shows how clean or polluted the air is. The scale goes from 0 to 500 and tracks five different pollutants, including ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particles.

Ozone is a molecule made up of three oxygen atoms. It is used as deodorizing agents, a bleach and sterilization agents for air and drinking water. In the Earth’s upper atmosphere, known as the stratosphere, there is a layer of ozone that protects us from ultraviolet light. Too much, or an increase in ultraviolet light, can lead to cases of skin cancer.

Near the surface, ozone is created by emissions for automobiles and factories. With long periods of stagnant conditions, ozone often builds up and can lead to a number of health issues such as coughing, throat irritation and congestion. It can also reduce lung function and long exposure can scar lung tissue.

Particle pollution, which is also called particulate matter, is a mixture of liquid droplets and solids in the air. There are coarse dust particles and fine particles produced by combustion, forest fires, agricultural burning and other industrial processes. Most particles large enough to be seen with the naked eye are known as PM10 (particular matter that’s 100 times smaller than a millimeter). They will include dust, soot, dirt, smoke and other particulates. For fine particles less than 0.1 micron in diameter, they are known as PM2.5.

Nitrogen dioxide is another pollutant which is a gas. It’s also a major component of urban pollution caused by car exhaust, power stations and heating. This type of pollution can be harmful to the lining of one’s airways.

Another colorless gas is sulfur dioxide. Most of this pollutant is caused from major industries that burn fossil fuels, gas refineries and the manufacturing of cement. This pollutant can irritate the lining of your lungs, nose and throat. Carbon monoxide is another odorless and colorless gas that forms when the carbon in fuels doesn’t completely burn.

Here in the Inland Northwest, according to the “State of the Air” report from the American Lung Association, we have averaged over 250 days a year with very good air quality. However, like this summer, we do get long stretches with dry and stagnant conditions that increase the levels of bad air.

The smoke from the large wildfires has been the primary reason for poor air quality in our region. Last week, air qualities in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene region peaked around 500, very high in the “hazardous” category. Last Monday, Portland, Ore. was ranked as having the worst air quality in the world due to the heavy smoke.

Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle were not far behind in terms of very bad air. Many areas reported “beyond index” hazardous air quality levels above 500, likely the highest in history for parts of the Northwest.

Many scientists say that climate change is the primary reason for the increasing bad air quality across the country. Despite the reason, we have been seeing longer and hotter weather conditions during the summer months, leading to increased wildfires.

Local weather ahead

In terms of our local weather, we finally saw some much-needed rainfall across the Inland Northwest over the weekend, which helped with the air quality. As we continue to move through September, Cliff and I believe that we’ve seen the last of the very warm days for the 2020 season.

We had a total of 22 days with temperatures at or above 90 degrees. There were seven in July, 10 in August and five in September. Cliff reported a hot 98 degrees on Sept. 4, with our final 90-degree day occurring on the 6th with a high of exactly 90. Our hottest afternoon was on Aug. 17 with a scorching 100-degree temperature.

Coeur d’Alene also had a driest July 8 through Sept. 17 period in recorded history. During that time, only 0.12 inches of rain had fallen at his station. That breaks the record, which was set back in 1910, for the same time period when only 0.16 inches of rain fell.

The break from the long dry spell was certainly appreciated here in the Northwest. Unfortunately, very little moisture was seen down in California where the wildfire situation remains the worst the state has ever seen. The strong ridge of high pressure is expected to rebuild back across the entire western U.S. this week.

It looks like we’ll some see much-needed rain this week. The long-range computer models are indicating that we may have to wait until the middle of October before there is more significant rainfall. The transition of these weather patterns has been moving slower or taking longer to evolve, especially in recent years.

In other words, we’ve seen unbelievable extremes across the globe as many areas get “stuck” with the same weather patterns for longer-than-usual periods of time.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com