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Air quality poses moderate health risk in Red Deer

High pressure system and low winds reduce air quality
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FILE - Red Deer’s air quality on Monday created moderate health risks for some residents according to Environment and Climate Change Canada’s air quality health index. (Photo by Advocate staff)

Reduced air quality in Red Deer on Monday morning created a moderate health risk for some residents, according to the air quality health index.

Red Deer hit six out of 10 on the index at 7 a.m. and was expected to remain at that level until 3 p.m. before dropping to five out of 10 in the late afternoon and four overnight.

Janell Gergely, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said air quality was slightly worse in Red Deer at about 10 a.m. than it was in Calgary or Edmonton, both of which had air quality at the moderate health risk level.

“Usually the worst conditions are in the morning when people are doing their morning commute and heating their homes. As the driving goes down during the day, and a little bit of mixing occurs in our lower atmosphere, then we’ll see conditions improve,” Gergely said.

She said at a moderate health risk, people with asthma or a pre-existing conditions should consider staying indoors a bit more and planning their activities around air quality conditions.

A special air quality statement is only released if conditions continue for more than two hours at 7 and above, she added.

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According to the air quality health index, one to three means there is a low health risk, four to six indicates a moderate risk, seven to 10 is high risk, and 10 plus is very high.

Red Deer has two air quality stations, one in Lancaster and the other at Riverside Drive, and the air quality recorded in Lancaster was slightly worse since Sunday. Red Deer air quality information is available at: weather.gc.ca/airquality.

Gergely said the region began struggling with air quality last week. Red Deer hovered at about four out of 10 for most of week and reached six on March 15.

“It’s really from the fact that we’re under a ridge of high pressure and the winds are really light. It’s helping to trap pollutants near the ground. There’s also a bit of an inversion which means there’s warm air aloft that’s also helping trap those pollutants.”

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She said having colder air near the ground and warmer air at higher altitudes usually happens more often in the winter than in the spring when more heat and radiation reach the earths’ surface.

She said as the week progresses temperatures should warm up to about 4 C which is the normal day time high for this time of year, and the normal overnight low of -8 C.

“It’s actually pretty normal for spring.”



szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com

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