Tag: Fine particulates
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Fireworks, Air Quality, and Wildfires, Oh My!
Fireworks are beautiful, but they also produce high concentrations of smoke and particulates (PM) that can harm our air quality and cause wildfires.
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Monitoring Matters: How Air-Quality Monitoring Helps Utah’s Air
Air monitoring is the beginning–and the end–of everything we do at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to protect and improve Utah’s air.
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Winter Inversion Study
Valleys along the Wasatch Mountains (Cache, Salt Lake and Utah) experience high levels of particulate matter (PM) in winter months and are currently designated as non-attainment area for particulate matter with diameters less than 2.5 micron (PM2.5). The chemical aspects of these pollution episodes are not well characterized. In order to fill in this gap…
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Air Quality: My Top Ten List for Better Air
By Donna Kemp Spangler Utah’s winter chill is creeping upon us, and with that comes the infamous inversions, that for perhaps 10 terrible days of the year have downright frightful and unhealthy air quality. (And no, Phil, it’s not Smaug, it’s smog. ) We know we can’t completely prevent them. It is partly an act…
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EPA Scientists Join Utah DEQ in PM2.5 Study
By Ann Brown and Karen Stewart, Guest Bloggers DEQ invites guest bloggers to share their thoughts on issues that impact our environment. We appreciate their insights and the opportunity to broaden the conversation with others in the community. Winter in Utah brings to mind crystal clear blue skies, snow-capped mountains, and a long ski season.…
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Recess Guidance Protects Kids During Poor Air-Quality Days
By Brittany Guerra, Guest Blogger DEQ invites guest bloggers to share their thoughts on issues that impact our environment. We appreciate their insights and the opportunity to broaden the conversation with others in the community. Winter months in Utah bring snow sports, holiday feasting, and seasonal inversions. As you’ve watched the mountain line slowly disappear…
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DEQ: Air Scientists Have Eyes in the Sky for PM2.5
By Donna Kemp Spangler It doesn’t take a scientist to know Utah has prolonged periods of bad air during the winter. But it does take a team of local and national scientific researchers to understand more fully why we have bad air. For years, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s air-quality scientists have been focused…
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Idling Gets Us Nowhere Fast!
by Tammie Bostick Cooper, Guest Blogger DEQ invites guest bloggers to share their thoughts on issues that impact our environment. We appreciate their insights and the opportunity to broaden the conversation with others in the community. Ten years ago, my niece came to my mountain home and announced her class was campaigning to stop the…
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Wildfires: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Pollution
Originally published July 5, 2016 By Donna Kemp Spangler Wildfire season is in full swing, most notably in central and southern Utah, where firefighters continue to battle several stubborn wildfires. Although individuals along the Wasatch Front may not be directly impacted by the wildfires burning south of here, the smoke from fires can have a…
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Air Quality: Confessions of an Ex-Wood Burner
By Donna Spangler I’ll admit there was a time when I enjoyed curling up on my comfy couch with a crackling blaze burning in our wood-burning stove. That was 10 years ago, when my husband and I bought a historic house that featured a family room with a wood-burning stove. We enjoyed the evenings we…
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Air Quality: Where there’s Smoke, there’s Pollution
By Bo Call A cold winter night, a fire burning in the fireplace—what could be better? Well, that wood fire isn’t just filling your house with holiday cheer; it’s also filling it with pollutants that can hurt you. Most people don’t realize that the inviting smell of wood smoke comes along with some pretty hazardous…