Sacramento and smog: Your role in it, health risks and why it’s worse in the summer

Sunny skies and sizzling temperatures are coming Sacramento’s way — but the summer weather also brings the dangers of smog looming across the capital region.

The haze is more than a blemish on the skyline — the lingering brownish-gray air presents an inescapable cloud of risks to humans and plants.

Smog, or ground-level ozone, is dependent on a variety of factors including temperature, wind, time of day and driving patterns, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Ground-level ozone’s recipe calls for three ingredients: there’s a chemical reaction between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), plus sunlight. Meaning, Sacramento’s warm, sunny weather only makes smog worse.

“On a rainy day you don’t really have smog formation, or you have very low levels of it,” said Chris Easter, the director of air quality and noise in Northern California at Environmental Science Associates. “It’s really those hot, sunny, high UV days that are very concerning, of which we have a lot ... which is good, theoretically, but not good for smog formation.”

Smog is mostly ground-level ozone — which is why it’s often used interchangeably — but it’s a bit more complex than that. The EPS says “smog is primarily made up of ground level ozone combined with other gases and particle pollution.”

According to the EPA, the Central Valley is shaped like a bowl. This geography, mixed with the region’s warm climate, can trap smog, preventing air pollution from escaping to the east. This trapped air mixture gets compounded, resulting in poor air quality.

Smog health effects

The list of health risks associated with ground-level ozone is a long one.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ground-level ozone is linked to diminished lung function, causing more hospital admissions and emergency room visits, and an increase in premature deaths.

“The problem with ground-level ozone is that it causes inflammation in our airways, our trachea, in our sinuses and in our lungs,” Easter said. “The lung issue is probably the biggest of the issues because that affects our breathing and causes asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory impairments.”

Easter’s list of health impacts of smog continues: burning throat and eyes, cough, cardiovascular risks, low birth rate, neurological disorders and more.

Repeated high exposures to smog could cause lung damage, according to the city of Sacramento’s 2016 Report.

A study conducted between 2000 and 2018 and published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that long-term exposure to air pollutants, including ground-level ozone, damaged a person’s lungs similar to one of a smoker.

Smog also affects the region’s plush plant canopy, agriculture and forest production.

The pollution interferes with plants’ ability to produce and store food, making them more susceptible to disease, insects, harsh weather and more, according to the city’s environmental impact report. It also reduces crop and forest yields and increases plant vulnerability to disease, pests and weather.

Your role in smog formation

Cars and other fuel-burning engines are a big source of Sacramento’s smog problem.

Almost 70% of the Sacramento region’s ozone pollution is derived from cars, trucks, locomotives, buses, motorcycles, agricultural and construction equipment, according to Spare the Air.

“When you’re driving a car, there’s these other costs in the environment that are generally not taken into account,” Easter said. “Basically we are using the atmosphere as an open sewer, for lack of better terms.”

As Sacramento heads into its smog season where warm, sunny days are constant, those who drive high polluting fossil fuel vehicles — especially during hot days — aren’t helping the cause.

The obvious steps towards decreasing smog are walking, biking or taking public transportation. And while that may be an option for some, it won’t work for everyone.

Easter said the worst thing to do is to drive long distances alone. Instead, try to aggregate trips into one “so you’re not going back and forth all day and burning more gas,” accelerate gradually, obey the speed limit and take care of your car.

Here are a couple more tips to reduce smog, according to the National Geographic Society:

▪ Fuel your car during cooler hours of the day — in the early morning or after sundown — to prevent gas fumes from heating up and producing ozone.

▪ Avoid products that release high levels of volatile organic compounds (paints, cleaning products, pesticides).

▪ Avoid gas-powered yard equipment including lawnmowers. Instead, reach for electric appliances.

▪ Get regular tune-ups, oil changes and inflate your tires to the proper level to improve gas mileage and reduce emissions.

What California is doing

While the finish line to Sacramento’s troublesome air quality may feel like pushing a large boulder up an even bigger, steeper hill — Easter said there’s hope in California’s actions.

Electric vehicles are being sold at higher rates than gas-powered cars across the U.S., according to the U.S Energy Information Administration. California recorded more than 1 million new zero-emission registered vehicles through 2021.

“We really need to get away from burning fossil fuels if we want to solve the problem and that’s why electric vehicles is such a good thing to do if you can afford it — and if it’s practical in your life,” Easter said.

But with the looming gas prices and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order that would ban the sale of new gas-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035 — worry in switching to electric has been rooted in a few things: price, charging accessibility and time on the road.

“Regardless of the aesthetic situation, nobody wants to walk outside and see this nasty smog,” Easter said. “Sacramento is this beautiful place, but if it’s smoggy, you wont be able to see the mountains.”