USU scientist dissects murky air

A Utah State University scientist looking at ways to abate the state's chronic inversion problem has a laboratory of dirty air this week stretching from Utah County to Cache County.

Nearly every year, inversions settle into valleys along the Wasatch Front, giving everything a greyish hue. And this year is no exception. Whether it be wind-blown dust, vehicle exhaust or chemical compounds condensing in the atmosphere, the murky air is taking a toll on human health, visibility and the bigger climate change phenomena, said to Phil Silva, USU professor of analytical chemistry.

"Northern Utah is a great place to live nine or 10 months of the year," he said. "But in January and February, we often get hit with a high amount of inversion days that are not only depressing to look at, but that are also bad for our health."

Currently, Utah has the worst air quality in the country, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency map. The fact that the state has so many key pollutants is causing the atmosphere to do its worst to the population, and weather experts say the smog is here to stay unless the cold front expected for the weekend produces enough precipitation to clear it out.

Very cold conditions in some valleys might turn anticipated rainstorms into freezing rain, making air conditions worse, according to the National Weather Service. Forecaster Mark Struthwolf said he is not surprised how low the state currently ranks, adding that there has been "no air movement in the past four to five days."

"That leads to very poor air quality when you have so many trapped pollutants," he said.

According to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality Web site, Utah, Davis and Salt Lake counties Tuesday greatly exceeded the health-based standard of 35 micrograms of PM 2.5 per cubic meter of air. PM 2.5 stands for particulates 2.5 micrograms or smaller. Utah County registered a whopping 77.8 micrograms, while Salt Lake/Davis came in at 58.2 micrograms.

"We're definitely in a red alert right now," said Donna Kemp Spangler, DEQ spokeswoman. "The problem for us in Utah is our topography. We live in a bowl. The pollution creates a lid right over the Wasatch Front."

Silva has spent the past few years looking at ways to clear up the state's chronic inversion problems, identifying specific conditions that lead to inversions and what people can do to correct the problem.

"By figuring out the chemical makeup of the pollution, you can identify triggers and come up with solutions on how to reduce the problem from the source," he said.