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Thursday, May 3, 2018

Unhealthy air in Charlestown continues for 2nd day

Health Department, DEM issue OZONE alert for a second day
American Lung Association scores South County an "F" generally for ground level ozone pollution
By Will Collette


From DEM:
Thursday May 3, 2018, 9:00 AM


An Air Quality alert is being issued for Thursday, May 3 for all RI Counties. 

A second day of favorable conditions for ozone formation (prolonged sun, southwest flows, and relatively stagnant air) will result in ozone reaching UNHEALTHY levels during the afternoon and well into the evening hours. 

Highs into the 80s inland, cooler coastal. Increased clouds towards sunset with a chance of showers. 

Mixed sun and clouds on Friday, with ozone levels expected to drop to MODERATE, with highs in the mid 70s. 

A front passes offshore Saturday, with sunshine and comfortable temperatures in the 70s. Air quality expected to be GOOD.

This is not unusual for South County, though this is pretty early in the season for bad air to show up. Usually we have to wait for increased car traffic from our summer visitors to hike our ozone levels.

In the American Lung Association's recent national evaluation of air quality, South County was the only part of Rhode Island to receive an abysmal "F" for ground level ozone pollution. 

Here is our report card:

Springtime and good weather also mean extremely high pollen levels as this forecast shows:

Pollen.com