Why Do Heat Waves Make Air Quality Worse?
Wednesday August 13, 2008
Air quality during a heat wave not only feels worse, it is worse. The combination of heat and sunlight creates a "chemical soup" that affects air quality and makes life outdoors nearly unbearable for many people. Find out how heat waves affect air quality, and what you can do to protect yourself from poor air quality and heat waves. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Also Read:
- Smog: Frequently Asked Questions
- Americans Breathe Dangerous Levels of Smog
- More Than Half of U.S. Population Lives in Counties with Unsafe Air
- Ozone: The Good and Bad of Ozone
- What Causes Global Warming?
- How to Avoid and Treat Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke -- Sharon O'Brien, About.com: Senior Living
Comments
-Or maybe it’s just that, at temps above 85degF or so, there’s (a) just not as much O2 in a gulp of air as in cooler air. If you’re old enough to remember carburated cars, it always wanted to die out as you came to a stop becasue the air/fuel mix needed to be 14.5:1 and was set at cooler temps with more )2 per cc. If you’ve got COPD and have borderliine O2sat, that little bit makes a big difference in your blood oxygenation.
-And (b) thermal inversion keeps the road dirt down near the road cuz the warmer, lighter air is held down more by the cooler upper air. Asthma is a disease of excessive airway sensitivity to airborn dust.
-It’s not “the chemicals” in the air. It’s just its physical properties.
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